Eastern Observations

Hackney is the greenest Borough in London, I've been told, and it seems every few days I stumble upon a new park or open space. Yesterday Rebecca, Jed, and Maria hosted a picnic on the Marsh right by their home; every day I cycle through three parks on my way to work, two of which are in Hackney; and I've recently found another small park within five minutes of my house. The leaves are beginning to turn, and the weather over the past few days has been nothing short of lovely.

One evening last week I was walking to Niamh's house in Stoke Newington, which is a neighborhood just west of mine. It was a Thursday, at about 7pm, and at a certain point I noticed there were lots of Middle Eastern men of all ages walking down the same street as me. As I progressed down the road their destination became more clear - there was a mosque located in the basement of one of the homes. As I passed it, I became aware that the street demographic changed almost immediately - all of a sudden instead of passing Muslim men, there were Hasidic Jewish men in droves: their synagogue was a mere stone's throw up the road.

For this and other reasons, London is incredible.