Changing seasons and the changes we've seen over 30 years

Andrew and I usually once a year cycle from my sisters house in Clapham to see Landridge the vegetable wholesaler that we sell to at New Covent Garden . We talk weather and vegetables and try to plan what to grow next year.

I remember at Agricultural college going to New Covent Garden when it had just moved in 1979. It was all sparkling, clean and rather futuristic and we all came back with a 25kg bag of potatoes or a box of oranges, which was the smallest amount you could buy.

Last year when we visited it all looked rather dirty and run down, as its become a big construction site, spilling over from Battersea power station. We were shown around and told yarns about the characters past who used to trade and how it heaved with colour and noise. The wholesale market has changed so much as Big firms/companies/food chains now buy direct from big farms. The climate at New Covent garden has changed along with the climate every where else.

But Landriges has moved on to offices new at Feltham and Andrew and I got a lift up in the lorry with the bikes thrown in with our pallets of vegetables. It seems in London there is still a market with pop up street stalls, specialist restaurants and a thriving green grocer sector that apreciate good quality fresh veg. Our talk on weather and vegetables was in a warmer, cleaner more convivial environment. It was also Diwali so we were given rice and curry for elevenses. Gave us the energy to find our way to Busy Park in sunshine and rain to pick up Sus-trans route 4 via Regents Park/London wetland centre and onto my sister in Clapham. Its the other cyclists in London that give me the near misses. There are so many of them which is good, but they know where they are going and I don't and those roads aren't for loitering on.

Andrew and I love our little adventures especially if it involves vegetables.