Hendon in the Heat

It was very warm yesterday. I couldn't even bring myself to eat much lunch -- I had some crackers and hummus and some leftover cold vegetables. Today it's supposed to hit 97º F (36º C).

Despite the heat, once again needing to get out of the house, I took a walk up to Hendon and Golders Green. I really need to take local walks more regularly, at least until work begins when I'll be walking to and from school every day. I haven't gained much weight during lockdown but I just feel less fit in general. So, yes, exercise!

It's a good time of year for a walk through residential areas, where everyone's gardens are blooming -- some in a big way. I would love to grow sunflowers like this but I don't think any spot in our garden is sunny enough.

I walked through Hendon Park, where there is a garden in memory of persecuted people all over the world, and a gate specifically memorializing Holocaust victims. (Hendon and nearby Golders Green are historically very Jewish neighborhoods.) Can anyone who reads Hebrew tell me what it says?

While in the park, I stopped at the cafe for a coffee, and a guy behind the counter was wearing a black t-shirt depicting a figure kneeling in front of an American flag and the words, "It was never about the flag. Take a knee." I told him I liked his shirt, and he turned out to be from Queens! So we had a chat about living in New York. Funny.

I took my coffee to a park bench, where I sat until a runner jogged up behind me and asked if she could sit on the other end of the bench. That seemed a little too close for comfort but how could I say no? It's a public bench! So I said yes, and she sat and panted for a while, and I stayed only as long as was polite before I kept walking.

In a park along Dollis Brook I found these deteriorating pavilions overlooking a water-control structure. (A sluice? A weir?) The whole area is suffering from a sense of neglect. I'm sure Barnet council struggles with expenses, especially in these times of austerity, but I counted two bicycles, several chairs and numerous shopping carts in the river, and it seems like someone could get a crew in there to clean those up, at least.

Sometimes the debris can be photographically interesting.

I wandered along, watching speckled wood butterflies and picking an occasional blackberry from the thousands on the bushes lining the path.

I walked the Capital Ring through the same area almost exactly a year ago. I found some interesting bird life in the ponds, and then walked through the fields where last year I found the funky camper (or as the English would say, caravan). The camper is gone now.

I came back home along Finchley Road through Golders Green, feeling much better for having had some exercise.