Two pictures from the Times archive show London in the 1960s & 1970s. It looks like a totally different world, & yet it is the world I knew
One shows a porter in the old Covent Garden Market, just before the fruit & vegetable business relocated to Nine Elms
As hard up 1960s students we were grateful for the wastefulness of the old market practices. Get up early enough in the morning & you could glean a huge bagful of treasure from the cobblestones – stuff which had dropped off the back of a lorry or a porters handcart. Some bruised, some a bit furry, some in near perfect condition
Washed, trimmed, cleaned & chopped back home, you could cook up a mighty vegetable stew in your biggest pan. Bulked up with barley, or lentils, or rice, or dumplings. Maybe with the addition of bones, which the butcher might give you for free or for pennies if one was a marrow bone, for protein.
One shows a porter in the old Covent Garden Market, just before the fruit & vegetable business relocated to Nine Elms
As hard up 1960s students we were grateful for the wastefulness of the old market practices. Get up early enough in the morning & you could glean a huge bagful of treasure from the cobblestones – stuff which had dropped off the back of a lorry or a porters handcart. Some bruised, some a bit furry, some in near perfect condition
Washed, trimmed, cleaned & chopped back home, you could cook up a mighty vegetable stew in your biggest pan. Bulked up with barley, or lentils, or rice, or dumplings. Maybe with the addition of bones, which the butcher might give you for free or for pennies if one was a marrow bone, for protein.
Or add lots of grated cheese on top. Or add an egg to poach in the hot brew
For a change, make that a fierce curry
When funds permit, buy a frozen chicken for the pot & have a real feast
The other picture is of that epicentrum of Swing, the Chelsea Kings Road. Not even the 2 dolly birds amount to a justification for the reputation
