Sunday 5 July 2020

Strawberries and Socks


With all the traditional major celebrations and markets in May and June cancelled, my city is trying some new compromises for July. Usually, Thursdays in July involve the shops in the city centre being open late; followed by free concerts with visiting popular artist(s) in the market square in the evening. (I'm not in the habit of visiting those, though.) This year, as we still have restrictions about big gatherings and keeping distance, there will be no concerts; but they have decided to allow a limited number of food trucks and markets stalls Thursday-Saturday (only a few stalls each weekend, and well spread out all over the square).



I have been buying strawberries a few times since Midsummer :)

The photos above were taken on Thursday around noon, and as you can see it was not exactly crowded.

I also bought some socks from one of the other market stalls - which saved me from having to go into a shop to look for some!


The weekend - Saturday and Sunday - has been rainy, and I've only been out for a short walk each day in between showers. I really welcomed the cooler weather this week though (rain included), as the week before was way too hot for my liking. (Now, the indoors temperature in my flat is more or less back to normal.)

15 comments:

  1. I always love seeing the market stalls. But this time, my favorite is the sun drenched ferns in your header.

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    1. Ginny, that special hue of fresh spring green in nature is long gone already. Time moves on...

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  2. Lovely strawberries! Their season has ended in our area; it may well have been the last time that we had local fresh ones yesterday for dessert (with vanilla ice cream).
    Saturday was warm without being too hot, but Sunday (yesterday) was VERY hot and walking was pleasant only in the shade and whenever the breeze picked up a bit. We still managed 10 km without exactly planning on it, I just needed to stretch my legs after lunch and before getting on the train home.
    Those "reduced markets" - I wonder whether I would not prefer no market at all to this strange new, distanced type of market.

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    1. PS: The socks are a nice find!

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    2. Meike, it's only a few times a year that we have really big markets here. On a normal Thursday in July there would not really be a lot more stalls than now, I think; but they'd be closer together along the edges of the square rather than spread out all over the place. (And there would be a stage on one side of the square for the concerts; and room for the audience in the middle.) I think they're doing the best they can in the circumstances - but of course, like everything else just now, it's a compromise, trying to find a balance between regaining some sense of normality while at the same time making us remember that things are really still not at all back to normal (and we need to keep distance!)

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  3. Replies
    1. I have never been to Turkey, but I imagine your street markets are probably (normally) a lot more lively than this!

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  4. This is great news that you can have your place to go shopping and looking and not be all crammed together with people. I know that the people who own those Sands are so glad that they can at least sell a few things. This virus has just ruined the economy all over the world! I'm glad you're indoors has become cool enough that you can stay indoors without suffering.

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    1. Sandra, yes, I do appreciate their efforts to have a few market stalls in the square even if not very many. The city looks very deserted when the square is all empty. I also think quite a few people miss going shopping at the same time as one hesitates to visit too many shops now.

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  5. Because I've not been in town I have no idea whether our two or thee stalls have opened up in the square. Everything is so strange these days but our lockdown has been so much stricter than yours anyway. It's much better buying in the open air if one can from a safety aspect.

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    1. Graham, I agree. I always "think twice" (at least) now about going into shops. How much do I really need/want to, and how difficult or easy is it to keep distance in there.

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  6. The strawberries look nice.

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    1. Fi, strawberries are the very essence of summer to me :)

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  7. Strawberries are a true sign of Summer and you're gonna need the socks come Autumn.

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  8. Amy, I need the socks NOW... ;) (They are summer ones. In winter I need socks that go higher, covering the ankle.)

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