please empty your brain below
Brilliant bit of writing.

Greg | Homepage | 08.12.17 - 8:01 a.m. | #

I agree - wonderfully engaging prose.

Frank F | 08.12.17 - 8:10 a.m. | #

"And Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly,
After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,
For Frenssh of Parys was to hire unknowe."

If I'm interpreting it right, Chaucer wrote about Bow to associate it with people who are willing to talk pretentious nonsense just to improve their social standing and appearance. In which case I think it's a completely fitting reference for the marketing people to drop.

Geoff | 08.12.17 - 8:18 a.m. | #

I wonder if supplicant prayers to the DLR are ever answered?

Waterhouse | 08.12.17 - 8:31 a.m. | #

Oh god that Bow Bells error annoys me every time!

And surely Stroudley Walk is in Bromley? Or is everywhere in E3 just "Bow" these days?

langdon | 08.12.17 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Great read. Have to say that's a pretty grim looking slice of Bow.

Kevin | 08.12.17 - 8:48 a.m. | #

Amazingly Stroudley Walk and the interior of the disused post office are being promoted as film locations.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 08.12.17 - 8:57 a.m. | #

Xst...I thought it all looked familiar...it was the name that caught me out. You're referring to Devons Road shops as I knew it. I guess this is called progress (the marketing stuff). I was told tales last century about the lives of people who were first residents of these dwellings. That all feels like a very long time ago now.

b | 08.12.17 - 9:20 a.m. | #

Is this faded banner still in situ? I think here the word "could" really means "won't".

https://tinyurl.com/y93sjktr

langdon | 08.12.17 - 9:24 a.m. | #

I watched that deluge from inside a pub in Whitton. About 12:25. Looked awful.

David (the 100,000th comment one) | 08.12.17 - 9:55 a.m. | #

Beautifully structured and composed. You should write a novel.

Ian | 08.12.17 - 12:26 p.m. | #

The post box looks like it has had a lick of paint since the last Google street view shot, does the Chinese style phone box still exist?

Nick | 08.12.17 - 12:35 p.m. | #

What's a peri-peri coffee shop, when it's at home?

martin | 08.12.17 - 1:24 p.m. | #

Oh, the exciting everyday of London E3!

Leuconoe | 08.12.17 - 1:32 p.m. | #

I love the irony of the word 'Dry...' in the photos taken after the downpour.

Bob L-S | 08.12.17 - 1:39 p.m. | #

That was a fierce downpour - thankfully watched from the comfort of my home!

Cornish Cockney | 08.12.17 - 1:53 p.m. | #

What about the health centre?
Was it blown away by the wind?

Greg S | 08.12.17 - 2:50 p.m. | #

It really is a vile area. I remember the post office. Dingy like a candlelit catacombs. Redevelopment can't come soon enough for the "square"

Andrew Jarman | 08.12.17 - 4:28 p.m. | #

This just shows up the failure of government and local government to devise sensible plans for our local communities. African villages are probably functioning better than many communities in London and elsewhere.

Tones | 08.12.17 - 5:27 p.m. | #

As I understand it, the nunnery was in fact at Bromley (by Bow), and Chaucer is speaking rather loosely when he puts it at 'Stratford atte Bow'.

dg writes: As I understand it, the former medieval village I now live in was once called Stratford atte Bow.

Andrew M | 08.12.17 - 10:38 p.m. | #

God, that looks grim.

SJM | 08.12.17 - 11:22 p.m. | #

Dear DG,
Even more surprising I saw some filming there a few weeks ago! One of the shop signs along from the laundrette had been replaced with one that said Grays post office (so not the actual old post office).
Anyway I got caught in that dismal rain too.

Aline | 09.12.17 - 9:18 p.m. | #











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