It's market day in Spalding. I love walking through the market place after I get off the bus and seeing everyone setting out their stalls. They all have their allotted pitches. There's the one that sells all sorts of rugs and doormats; the second hand books stall - not as interesting as you might think - with his ingenious trailer which folds out both sides to display shelves of battered paperbacks; the people who have the 'foreign' food stall - must be Latvian or Polish - something vaguely east European anyway; clothes stalls - designer or otherwise - mainly manned (womanned) by immigrants; the fresh fish stall; 2 birthday card etc stalls; net curtains; cushions; haberdashery; bicycles; DVDs - probably illegal copies; many and varied fruit and veg stalls; fresh meat and of course the obligatory snack bar - selling at that time in the morning bacon butties!! The smell is gorgeous! I usually stop at one of the fruit and veg stalls - today I bought Braeburn apples, clementines and some cherries - delicious. It occurred to me as I was buying them that cherries must be some of the few things that defy the saying about anything nice must be illegal, immoral or fattening.
Once through the market place I have to walk down a narrow passage by the civic centre dignified with the name of Buttermarket, and come out by the river Welland. The ducks haven't woken up yet and they're all in little huddles with their heads under their wings. Because there are a few white ducks on the river the mallards are starting to look very strange with lots of white feathers mixed in especially on their chests. I have yet to see an all white duck with a green head but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. This morning the weather was a bit dull but on a sunny morning this walk to work is idyllic. I often take the river path and then across a footbridge coming out opposite the office. A great start to the day.
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About Me
- Jilly
- I'm 59 years old and have ambitions to be a writer. So far I have had several readers' letters published in a variety of magazines and one short story. During 2011 I hope to increase my writing output and achieve more publishing credits. I would love to be the author of the next blockbuster - either fiction or non-fiction.
2 comments:
What a lovely word-picture! I could just see the scene - and I particularly loved the idea of a white duck with a green head. The nearest we get to that in Bethnal Green is the mixed pigeons - the ferals obviously sometimes mate with escaped racing pigeons (we haven't got any of the really crazy ones of those, like tumblers and jacobins, but there are some rather good cream/terracotta- coloured ones, and cream/grey).
And I saw a white duck today with blue and brown tail feathers so we're getting towards the white one with green head!
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