head over heels

Remember this post about our trip to New York? I wondered upon my return whether I'd ever adored London so much - I had fallen out of love with it somewhat and couldn't find that magic any more :-(

Well, it took an amazing salt-beef bagel, an Ethiopian pancake and a kangaroo to mend our broken affair. Yeah, I know, it can be tough sometimes. I'm just being facetious really - we had a great day out in London yesterday and did stuff that reminded me what a wonderful place it is.

First we visited Caravan on Redchurch Street where the stuff was all amazing and pretty and a bit too girly for the husband. We moved on quite quickly, even though I could have bought up most of the pressed glass and maybe a bunny lamp. Because it was lunchtime, we stopped off at Beigel Bake at the top of Brick Lane, then proceeded to raid the shops on Cheshire Street. First stop, Labour and Wait for an enamel pie dish, then Shelf for a retro print and some jewel-bright insect pins; and then in a shop whose name I can't remember, I found this new friend, a tin wind-up kangaroo to keep old Froggu at home company. The frog is vintage 1950s, this one is new, but her tail spins round as she goes and it's the most delightful thing. How quickly I am regressing into childhood as I age!

I could have stuck around looking at vintage clothes all day, but we went on down Brick Lane, stopping to stare at two vintage kitchen larder units that I wish I had room for, and then we got side-tracked entirely by the food stalls at the Sunday UpMarket. Oh my lord! We had to have a second lunch. Read here for more of what we ate.

Then we had a quick whip around Spitalfields Market before heading into town to buy clothes. I came home with a shirt-dress that looks like an artist's smock and makes me look very arty indeed :-).