Well, after writing yesterday about the repetitiveness of my summertime days, I really did get the urge to get out of the house. So I took a photo walk to a part of East London I hadn't visited in years -- Dagenham.
I got off the tube in Newbury Park and wound my way south and east through Seven Kings, Goodmayes and Becontree, ending my walk at the Dagenham Heathway tube station. I walked about five and a half miles, I think, and the weather was just about perfect.
I really like these parts of London. Eastern Dagenham was built later than many of the Victorian neighborhoods closer in to the city, so there's more green space, and all along my route there were shops reflecting all sorts of nationalities, from Poland and Romania to India and Pakistan. Just outside the Seven Kings train station I popped into the coffee shop above, and had an Americano coffee and an eclair while listening to lilting Middle Eastern music. "Well, this is very multicultural!" I thought.
Flags of many nations!
As I walked farther east into the more suburban areas I saw more and more England flags. At first I thought, "My, everyone is so patriotic!" But then I realized that while that may be true, they were also rooting for the English football team in the UEFA European Football championship games, which are going on now. (As evidenced by one sign I saw saying, "Come on England!")
I followed a commercial street eastward through Goodmayes that I thought I'd never walked before, but then I spotted a Chinese restaurant that I remembered photographing ten years ago. I guess I really have been everywhere.
Still, there are always new sights!
I got back home around 2 p.m. and had lunch, then sat in the garden with Olga. I managed not to destroy our second folding chair.
Last night, Dave and I watched "Boy Erased" on Netflix, about a gay kid whose very religious parents put him through conversion therapy. It's not a new movie -- it was made about six years ago, around the time I read the book -- but somehow we'd never seen it. Russell Crowe, who plays the father, looks alarmingly like Steve Bannon. Time has not been kind to the gladiator.
These shop fronts are nice street shots. I will search for boy erased since you mentioned it
ReplyDeleteRussell Crowe playing the father of a gay son is a complete reversal to when Crowe played the gay son in The Sum of Us (1994).
ReplyDeleteI bet "Steve's Mini Market" sells found objects and slug-ravaged dahlias plus vintage postcards and the severed heads of schoolboys who caused irritation at lunchtime in a library or did not respond to overdue book reminders.
ReplyDeleteAh, Steve’s Mini Market. You’re finally making a profit (I hope) on all your found items.
ReplyDeleteSurely you went in to buy something at Steve's?
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing Boy Erased; you're right about Crowe, though I watched the movie for Nicole Kidman.
So all this time you've had this business going?
ReplyDeleteI thought Dagenham was in the Midlands somewhere, with the Girl Pipers. Are there still Girl Pipers?
Your city walks never fail to provide lots to see. Each store front and signage is unique. I love the vibrancy. I'd consider replacing the second folding chair before it decides to collapse. The first chair was a warning... We can only hope that conversion therapy will be a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many interesting places to explore in London. I actually saw a guy waving a huge flag that I didn't recognize yesterday evening. I wondered if he might be rooting for one of the teams. He looked kind of crazy standing on a street corner waving and unrecognizable flag in the air on a very busy street.
ReplyDeleteI wish it wasn't so hot here so I could get out and walk. it's a rare day lately that Minnie gets a walk since by the time it's fairly reasonable it's nearly 7 PM. Fortunately we have a half acre for her to roam and another half acre on each side that is open, one basically a vacant lot and the other the back half of my mostly absent neighbor and no fences between.
ReplyDeleteA good walk and lots of photos.
ReplyDeleteI saw that film in the theater and it was very emotional. Is Nicole Kidman in it too? The teenage actor was also in Lady Bird playing her boyfriend who turns out to be gay. I haven't heard of him in anything lately; I thought he was an excellent actor.
ReplyDeleteI will look up that movie. Very timely. Russell Crowe, sigh.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great walk and how nice it is decent enough to actually walk. We're in the heat dome here. If you don't get out at the crack of dawn, you're dog meat walking. It looks like an interesting area!
ReplyDeleteWish I'd known you'd like that Music game I donated. I would have packed it up to bring in October! Thanks for coming by!
Not many places in the world where I would feel same walking through the streets somewhere I don't know well.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your wanders and reflections. Boy Erased was harrowing, at least I recall finding it so.
ReplyDeleteGood walk, Steve! Glad you got out of the house.
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