Zoe Mulford: Postcards (Blog)

When B and I moved to England, we made much of how easy it would be to get to Continental Europe - but in four years, neither of us has been there except for work. This had to change, so we took an actual vacation and went to Brussels on the Eurostar train, by way of London.Thursday morning in London, we went to the Borough Market, which we discovered by accident on an earlier trip. Both of us love street markets, and the Borough Market is a very fine one.
They open at two in the morning to sell wholesale to the restaurant trade. Later on they’re ready for the civilians. One can graze from stall to stall, sampling cheeses and daubing cubes of bread with olive oil, rose harissa, or unpasteurized butter with sea salt. Open-air roasteries serve up ostrich-burgers and wild boar to the lunch crowd, garnished with red-stemmed baby greens. The air is filled with amazing smells.Running a market stall must be the grocer’s equivalent of busking: uncomfortable, chancy, really hard to [...]

First of all, it must be said, the gig was lovely.

The original plan was for me to drive to North Yorkshire to play support for Hungrytown at the Kirkby Fleetham Folk Club. Sadly, Hungrytown cancelled due to illness - so the organizer asked if I would headline and did I know anyone who might like to play the support spot. I called Lorelei Loveridge (riding high from her final band gig in Liverpool) who kindly came in at the last minute - and did the driving. We played for a small but friendly crowd in the Kirkby Fleetham Village Hall. Both the club volunteers and our hosts Paul and Wendy Arrowsmith could not have been kinder.

Beyond that, the whole trip was pretty surreal.

Thanks to Bill King.