It was a cold and windy morning, but rather nice in the sun. The endless roar of traffic started to get to me after while – it’s not just the noise but the smell of carbon monoxide and the thought (in the back of my mind) of what this is doing to my health. Then again walking is good for your health, so maybe these things balance out somehow. I was pleased to find 20p in the road. It made a change from the usual condom wrappers, discarded kebabs, Nerf gun bullets and Lucozade bottles, although I saw all of those as well.
In East Barnet I stupidly waited for North London Hospice charity shop to open. It didn’t open at the scheduled time (10:30) and after lingering a few minutes I wondered what I was doing with myself and continued walking. I turned left down to East Barnet Library, then swing back round to East Barnet Village.
The gun shop is still there, bizarrely positioned next door to a police station. Just what the world needs in these troubled times.
Another charity shop was still closed (Cancer Research), making me think I should have done this walk an hour later. I turned right out of East Barnet past the signs for lost cats Boris and Bubbles (maybe they ran off together), and took the litter-strewn railway bridge back in the direction of Oakleigh Park Station. It was then a simple uphill jaunt back to Whetstone.
