Weird Art and the New Hendrix

When I was walking to the Columbia Road flower market on Sunday, I noticed an advertisement for a highrise apartment building and its tagline was "just minutes from vibrant Brick Lane."

Vibrant Brick Lane? It was only a few blocks away and I hadn't been there since last summer, and that time the winter before.



Within a few blocks I was back in the mess and smell and noise and hipsters jostling for bargains laid out on the grotty ground along the laneway. Policemen bumped shoulders with fashionable young things and I wandered past great graffiti, broken glass, buskers drinking from wine bottles and the New Hendrix.






There's this little area at one end of Spitalfields market that's packed with vendors of food from around the world. The smells accost your nose. I went for the one with the biggest queue and got a japanese cheese and egg omlette called okonomi-yaki. And an onigiri (rice ball).




I went past the curry houses to see the Whitechapel gallery and looked at weird art. Bought a half dozen bagels from the bagel shop with grotty tiles, flourescent lighting and a queue that doubled up and went out the doorway. It was a great day out.