Hoxton Street: A slice of life EastEnder's style

I really love walking down Hoxton Street to visit Anderson's bakery for a fresh loaf of sandwich bread. As I pass the many cafes on my way, I'm always hearing snippets of conversations. Mostly I listen for the accents, and it's very Cockney. The shop that has anything you might need, except for food is halfway down, just across from F. Cooke's pie & mash. Try the jellied eels sometime, they're served hot with mash and are like a very nice, light white fish. The jelly melts when they're heated, so don't be afraid. The shop owners along the way are all quite chatty too.

I guess I just really like the feeling of this street being my local street, warts and all. They're all just getting on with their lives, there's not much posing (except for the group of boys outside one of the fried chicken shops). I've only seen a couple of fights on the street and I've been visiting several times a week for a year and half.

The market on Saturdays is good for fake versions of fancy handbags and questionable Top Shop clothing. For me, I prefer the street during the day during the workweek. But I realize that it won't be possible for many of you to visit then. If you ever do get the chance, have lunch at F. Cooke's then head to a cafe with outdoor seating for a cuppa to watch life go past.

Go take a walk

...with some young folk like yourself. The Metropolitan Walkers group of the Ramblers is set up for people aged in their 20's and 30's, which makes it rather different from I usually imagine a group of Rambler's folk to look like. Instead it's a bunch of people my own age, who like walking, doing just that. The pace was fairly quick on the recent walk I went on, we did about 9 miles, with a stop in the middle for packed lunches and a stop at the end for a drink at a pub. I guess I'd describe the pace as "you live in London and you're walking to work", in my case it seems that most of the people walking to the tube with me keep this pace in the morning. Perhaps they are all late, the way I usually am?

Funnily enough, the first time I went on a walk, the group had a publicist for the Ramblers, newspaper reporter and photographer accompanying us. The publicist was wearing a denim skirt and cowboy boot high heels, not your typical rambler footwear of tennies or hiking boots. She did just fine on the walk, but it was rather funny. Plus she carried a purse, while most folk were sporting backpacks or messenger bags. There was a sort of mixup, she hadn't actually planned to be accompanying the reporter that day. Poor girl, but she was sweet.

What I learned though, was that a lot of people don't think that the Ramblers are really needed any more. They were instrumental in keeping public footpaths accessible to walkers in Britain, but people think that well that's done, yay. It turns out that a fair amount of legal wrangling is still needed to keep footpaths open. I've seen it all the time in the US, where rich folk decide they don't want the regular people walking past their very expensive view. I heard Madonna was once trying to close a public footpath crossing one of her country properties in England. So, the Ramblers fight that sort of thing. And they do need a new generation to step up, you don't even have to step out onto the paths. So maybe think about supporting the Ramblers Association.

I think the best part is that all it costs to go on a walk with the Metropolitan Walkers or a regular Rambler's group, is the transport to get yourself there and back. The Metropolitan Walkers walk within London and within one hour of London, check out their weekend walks and weekday evening walks sometime. They're very friendly, and can usually be spotted by their comfortable footwear.

The picture of me was taken by Carlos Jasso on the day we did our walk.