I’ve always enjoyed the interactions of London’s street markets. I still shop for food at Hackney’s Ridley Road when I can, as my late mother and grandmother had done before me. Walking around, the memories come thick and fast from every which way. As a kid, sneaking looks through the gates of the shechita, the kosher slaughterhouse, to watch the headless chickens run around like headless chickens. The colours and smells of Caribbean fruit, veg and spices. Now commonplace but then something new and wonderful. Like the sounds of Prince Buster or Bob and Marcia emanating from the record shop, they added gloriously to the life force of the area as new immigrant communities so often do. I feel so lucky to have grown up in that place at that time.
2023-10-25