And a lament for the Greek shop of Dartmouth Park
I said to Kevin this time I wanted to walk on the Heath every day – and not just get so used to it being on my doorstep and I would simply forget, or be too lazy as I was in the past. So yesterday evening when I was in bed reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Kevin hauled me out, we all wrapped up warmly and off we set over the Heath, to Swain’s Lane, down to Dartmouth Park and back.
We discovered my favourite shop and main reason for wanting to move, one day, to Dartmouth Park is gone. The lovely rustic wooden exterior, darkened by years of wear and weather. Gone. Replaced by shiny white tiles and bleak steel joinery. The inside once a clutter of dusty wooden shelves, dark wood floors – a hive of local bustle – a deli counter harbouring bottles of hand-pressed olive oil, hand-made cheeses, salamis and hams. Gone.
Where vegetables, full of life were once displayed in wooden boxes, now the usual manufactured produce lies in green plastic bins. The light so bright. The floor so shiny. The shelves grinning sarcastic metallic smiles. You are gone.
Oh the Greek shop of Dartmouth Park you have gone. The fresh loaves that used to grace the front window. An empty shelf of flour late in the day. An interior at least twenty five years old, all wooden and showing your age we loved you so. You’ve now been swept over by progress. Your soul cemented over and covered in shiny grey lino. You have gone you have gone.
A new shop has sprung up in Swain’s Lane, full of organic produce and hope. So all is not lost. Not lost at all. Perhaps the soul of the Greek shop has moved there. Maybe it has.
Yesterday we were blessed with one of my favourite lights for photography – when the sun’s going down shining against dark dark clouds.
And I also wanted to say thanks so much everyone for your lovely comments and welcomes to London – it’s really really lovely to arrive with such greeting and well wishes! Many of you have asked why we moved to London – well it’s a long story so I shall post about that once my CV is out in circulation and I’ve built my new portfolio site.
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