July/August 2016

We put away the disappointment of Brexit as much as we could, and settled in to enjoy summer in London. We were thrilled to discover a new culture of craft beer had developed in our neighbourhood; the ‘Bermondsey Beer Mile’ – a mile of micro-breweries and bottle shops in railway arches – now stretched from near Maltby Street and its much-improved market, to an industrial estate near Millwall in South Bermondsey. As well as enabling us to keep up with our American hobby of visiting breweries, the mile ensured that we explored our local area far more than we ever had before. We discovered that the southernmost brewery (our favourite), ‘Four Pure’‘Four Pure’, was also perfectly positioned that we could stop in for a drink on our way home from one of our walks east along the Thames. (Walking was another American hobby that we kept up this summer and autumn.)

There were new restaurants to enjoy too. One of a new chain, Franco Manca pizza had helpfully opened just across the road from one of our local parks, so we, like most of the population of Bermondsey, had a new favourite activity on a warm evening – al fresco pizza in the park. Unlike the rest of the population, drinking wine openly in the park was still a novelty for us… Wine and pizza were even welcome at the Scoop (an amphitheatre on the riverside), where the Olympics was showing – as long as the wine was decanted into plastic…

Perhaps most importantly, we caught up with friends and family over the summer. One friend invited us to a Christening, another to a wedding. And there was a day trip to the ‘English Riviera’ with my parents, where we dodged the rain, and took a boat trip to Brixham. Plenty of cider and good fun were had by all!