Linda and I were having a Friday journey, for the first time, because the start of the week had been occupied - for me -with curtain making in Leicestershire. We concluded that Fridays were busier than Mondays and Tuesdays, partly because we passed a number of street markets. I was a bit shocked at the lack of respect for the memorial in Whitchapel Market, surrounded by litter bins and rubbish. But then it is for Edward VII, rather than a war memorial. The inscription is rather interesting, leaving us wondering what the Jewish inhabitants of the East End had to be grateful for.
Our bus started in Cavell Road, a good name for a street just beside the London Hospital, since Edith Cavell nursed there for a while. Our journey to the start had been easy and quick, thanks to our various branches of the wonderful Overground. We were on board by 10.15, and headed across the amazingly busy Whitechapel Road towards the Blind Beggar pub and then along Cambridge Heath Road.
We spotted the Fymfyg bar and comedy club, which has links with Lee Hurst, as we headed into Bethnal Green, past the Museum of Childhood and Cambridge Heath Station. We went so fast past an official picket line that we were unable to see who was striking and for what. We came past St Joseph's Hospice which, as we have noted before, was one of the first and most advertised of the Hospice movement, and then passed what we assume to be a branch of the London College of Fashion. We wondered if they will be moving to the new King's Cross site for the University of the Arts, London. We liked the Hackney signage trying to persuade people to use their libraries and admired the handsome Town Hall. We were puzzled by 'Ocean' - is it a swimming pool? - but it is merely a music venue.
Sporty Activities clearly happen at the King's Hall Leisure Centre, where they were using topical vocabulary to advertise their 50% off membership, calling it 'spending cuts'.
We headed westwards to Clapton and the pond, as well as the Lea Bridge Roundabout, which is where buses like to rest. But we were hurrying along, past the sadly derelict White Hart Pub, and then the obviously thriving BSIX, the sixth form college for the area. I was delighted to observe that their VLE is powered by Moodle, as this gives me a chance to say 'hi Tim'.
We turned left down Northwold Road, so windy and narrow that it had clearly been a lane in the past, and admired the handsome Clapton Library, hoping that the local residents would heed the signage and use it before someone cuts it. We also passed the Sam and Annie Cohen Wellbeing Centre, which seems to be where the Hackney U3A meets, before we came to Stoke Newington Common and thence to Stoke Newington High Street, not for the first time in our travels. We were saddened to see a ghost bike as we turned left into Manor Road, but shortly afterwards the bus had to come to a halt while Hackney's people prepared to remove a car parked, so far as we could see, on a double yellow line. The operatives thought the bus could get through, but our driver was doubtful, and so we had time to look while backing and manoeuvring were done. There were attractive houses along here, some more cared for than others, and some lovely gardens, such as the dahlia Fest shown here. By the way, there do seem to be a lot of streets in London called Lordship Lane.
Now we were onto Blackstock Road, and very rapidly to Finsbury Park Station, where this route terminates. We had arrived in just under an hour, which is pretty impressive when we consider the busy residential and shopping areas we had been through. 
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