Valentine’s Day – champagne, chocolates, a single perfect rose, candlelit dinner à deux – or a tube trip to Cockfosters to explore the London Borough of Enfield with Mondoagogo
No contest!
I know virtually nothing about Enfield, so this was a true voyage of discovery. Mondo suggested a visit to the Museum of Domestic Architecture and Forty Hall, and with no suggestions of our own, Molecule Man and I were happy to go along with this.
We took the Piccadilly Line to Cockfosters Station – a rather lovely synthesis of concrete and brick, with a Hopperesque diner.
A small parade of shops had a great array of lettering and signage – a bit of an obsession for all of us, while a potentially dull call centre along the main road redeemed itself with a graceful curve, making a surprisingly fetching photograph.
Cockfosters Call Centre
The entrance to the Museum of Domestic Architecture was slightly tricky to find, but this small museum is well worth a visit. One of the things I love about museums with a 20th Century emphasis is the potential to bring back memories – “my mum had one of those…” But my favourite photographs from the museum were abstracts of the fixtures of the museum itself.
Light at MODA
Next, we hopped on a double-decker to make the trip to Forty Hall – like something out of a Jane Austen novel transplanted into suburban North London. It boasted some wonderfully ugly carvings, and engaging displays of 20th century childhood pursuits, advertising ephemera, ceramics of variable quality and assorted kitschy tat.
Forty Hall
The Borough of Haringey was on our February Borough Challenge list, so we got a bus to Wood Green, changing at Enfield Town. It was a bit dark by the time we got there, so I’d like to go back for a more comprehensive photo-stroll, but I managed to grab a few shots of the tube station, and got mildly admonished for my pains by a London Transport employee.
Wood Green Tube Station
Finally, we got the tube back to Central London. Soho was heaving with romantically-inclined couples – we had entirely forgotten it was Valentine’s Night. We found a table at Café Em’s, decked out with primly closed daffodil buds and heart-shaped balloons with an unfortunate resemblance to comedy breasts.
So all in all, an interesting jaunt for Valentine’s Day – but I’m still waiting for my flowers and chocolate.
lifecyclist 