Observation Hive

Bob and I tried to visit Marylebone's Farmers' Market before, but arrived too late, so today was my first time at this lovely market right off Marylebone High Street, which is one of my favourite browsing streets, great for lovers of food, literature, and design.

I was tempted by these bunches of Sweet William
and saw many charming dogs amongst the market stalls.

Although I came back to Marylebone High Street later in the day, I had an early peek into this shop:

The Natural Kitchen is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new shop, and it's full of all sorts of good-for-you temptations well worth raiding for a deluxe picnic! Things I learned from their brochure: "there are more than 5,000 varieties of pear grown throughout the world," honey is "the only edible food that does not spoil" (what's an inedible food?), and almonds "are a member of the peach family." From Marylebone, I made my way north into Regent's Park
for the Camden Green Fair, part of London Sustainability Weeks, a series of events around London promoting environmental awareness. Sprawled across a corner of the park, the Green Fair was a great day out, whether you chose to lounge on sofas in the sun,
get close to this beekeeping display to take a photo (oh, the things I do for this blog),
add a new dimension to straightening up the house,
engage an elf and Spiderman in some serious conversation,
or take in a bit of the country right in the heart of the city.


I didn't find out what this man's cycling was powering or why (a barbeque?),
but I was very excited to see some old Shropshire friends (even if they weren't from Shropshire), a few minutes before the big event.
The ewe at the back bleated at me when I moved closer to the lambs,
but then it was time for the shearing demonstration!
Oh, the indignity of life:
A few kids were enlisted to help roll up the wool
and a slightly less cuddly ewe was returned to the pen.

After the demonstration, the man asked the crowd how much we thought he would get for this freshly-shorn wool. The surprising answer? £3. (Apparently, imitation wool has driven down prices to a shocking degree.) Next up was a very entertaining cinema experience, courtesy of the sun.
The free goodie bag of organic popcorn, hand-fried crisps, and an organic flapjack was a nice bonus, too. (As an aside, an English flapjack is a soft oatcake snack, while a Canadian flapjack is a breakfast pancake; I like both!) After I left the fair, I wandered very slowly down Marylebone High Street, eventually ending up at Oxford Street. By this time, I was pretty hot and tired, and planned to catch a bus home, but when every person walking toward me seemed to be carrying the same brown-paper shopping bag, I remembered that there was a shop I wanted to check out.
Until their Oxford-Street location opened, Primark's shops were usually found on pretty unremarkable high streets, but with the lure of extremely cheap prices in a 70,000-square-foot space, the Oxford flagship has been very popular ever since it opened with a riot back in April. (Sadly, this seems to be the norm with big shop-openings; for example, the closest Ikea to us also caused a riot when it opened back in 2005.) Even though I was tempted by some of the very cheap clothes, after ten minutes I was done. The crowds were just too much, with staggering queues for the change-rooms and checkouts.
Just looking at these weary shoppers with their hard-won bags of cheap-and-cheerful clothing tired me out enough to make me turn right, exit onto Oxford Street, and catch my bus home.