the day i discovered columbia road part 1

One of those parts of London that have always been there, known to everyone, but me.  Columbia Road is 'the other Brick Lane'.  That's how I see it anyway.  On Sundays, when it hosts the world famous flower market, it rivals Brick Lane in rowdiness.  For some reason, a disproportionate number of French people go there, which is awesome I guess.

  

But of course, 'flower' also includes all manner of wonderful things.  I spotted a fascinating mini pineapple life form, amongst all sorts of miniature botanic wonders.  For some reason , most of the men there wore tight shorts and had long beards.  The women looked normal.

In a shop there I saw the most exquisite plaster and stone ornaments and sculpture.  In the same week many hostile pieces of legislation were passed across African nations, I found ironic the figure of two African men facing each other as if engaging in something that would get them in a lot of trouble in Nigeria or Uganda.  I pointed this out to the store minder.  He laughed.  Neither he nor I knew if the juxtapositioning was deliberate.  Apart from the multicoloured caesars, there was also controversy looming right at the back of one of the shelves where the bust of a certain moustached Austro-German leader of old sat quietly.  It was too dark for my 200 speed film.

Meanwhile outside, a balding rastaman in Ethiopian garb strummed some sweet, sweet reggae on his acoustic guitar.