zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Dec 11, 2009, 3:40 am
A huge thanks for my lovely new header goes to Edwin Lynch, a filmmaker, writer, teacher and webmeister from West Australia who designed it for me – and gave me lots of sound advice earlier this yea...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Dec 9, 2009, 10:34 am
This year I wrote down every novel I read. I wanted to see how many I get through, and have a record. I’ve read some great books over the years that I would like to revisit but only remember fra...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Dec 4, 2009, 9:27 am
Thank god for the sun shining today. I thought I had lived here long enough that the weather no longer affected my mood, but what a difference a bit of sun makes to the public morale. Strangers smilin...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Dec 2, 2009, 2:06 am
Sometimes I get annoyed when Prince Charles bangs on about how everyone should eat properly. It’s easy for him to say, isn’t it? I’d eat pretty well too if I owned half the bloody We...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Nov 30, 2009, 4:40 am
Hell hath no powers of analysis like a woman dumped. That, anyway, is the message I got from Sophie Calle’s exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery. Calle has made a career out of recording her journe...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Nov 25, 2009, 2:31 pm
                    If you’ve visited The Idea Store in Whitechapel or the Dirty House and Rivington Place (here’s my review) in...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Nov 17, 2009, 7:56 am
When I first moved to London someone told me that this is where you can get ‘the best bagels in the world’. I have since been informed by a born-and-bred New Yorker (in extremely weary ton...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Nov 12, 2009, 9:32 am
The Vietnamese restaurants along Kingsland Road are legendary. And somehow, the competition means they all – at least of the seven or so I have tried – are excellent and honestly priced. Usually, ...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Nov 10, 2009, 10:45 am
It’s damn near impossible to make it to the end of Bethnal Green Road without stopping for a snack. Even the fried chicken shops sell curries and shish kebabs, and the smell is so delicious I us...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Nov 7, 2009, 12:10 pm
It’s thanks to good old-fashioned lobbying that East London has the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood at all. Part of the V&A, it’s a beautiful open-plan museum on Cambridge Heath Road, just n...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Nov 5, 2009, 11:17 am
One of the most interesting things about keeping a blog is the search box. This is where you see what phrase or word someone has typed into google that has led them to your particular corner of the in...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 30, 2009, 1:32 pm
Well it’s a spooky, gloomy time of year, so I thought I’d mention the bandstand at Arnold Circus. It always strikes me as such an eerie place. It was built in the 1890s on top of a mound o...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 29, 2009, 9:05 am
 Although not a cat person I think this little painting is quite lovely, and I do hope the council overlooks it. It’s painted onto the wall of what I think of as the black palace, a big warehou...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 28, 2009, 5:18 am
The steady, determined and very welcome march of Australian baristas into the deepest corners of Hackney continues. First there was Climpson and Sons in Broadway Market. Then came Tina, We Salute You ...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 27, 2009, 12:54 pm
Another south-east London dispatch, this time to a soon-to-be-demolished council flat in at 157 Harper Road in Elephant and Castle, which has been transformed by artist Roger Hiorns into a grotto of b...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 27, 2009, 8:40 am
Here’s my feed… trying to get the widget thing sorted but not quite there yet.  http://twitter.com/eastlondonlocal  
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 23, 2009, 10:42 am
I’ve mentioned before the fact that there are very few free cashpoints in East London. It’s just one of those irritating little facts of life. Mare Street has a few around the council buil...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 21, 2009, 8:44 am
 I’m planning another foray into the nightlife of Dalston soon to mark (but definitely not celebrate) the departure of yet another friend to sunnier shores and will be taking my makeup inspirat...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 16, 2009, 11:13 am
So I finally made it to the Wapping Project. It’s a former power station that’s been converted into a restaurant and exhibition space in – funnily enough – Wapping, which is right on the Thame...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 14, 2009, 6:41 am
So today we are taking a slight detour south of the river, as one of my favourite late childhood authors, John Irving, was making a rare UK appearance at the Southbank to promote his new novel, Last N...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 8, 2009, 1:25 pm
Is this the office of the future? I certainly wouldn’t complain. It’s amazing to see how many people run their working lives from cafes these days. I have never really liked the idea of taking...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 5, 2009, 3:44 am
After spending the last three years adrift in the culinary wasteland that is White City, it’s quite a shock to be somewhere with decent cafes to try out on a lunch break when I’m selling ...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 2, 2009, 11:24 am
Just wondering what anyone else thought of Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, appearing on Eastenders? There does seem to have been some criticism, but as always with Boris, it’s so ridiculous tha...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Oct 1, 2009, 3:14 am
The Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road is devoted to exhibiting the ‘interiors of the middle classes’. Set within an old almshouse (which is also open on the first Saturday of the month), the long n...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Sep 30, 2009, 3:49 am
During Open House a couple of weekends ago we noticed that the nearby Haggerston estate, which looked like it was being vacated for eventual demolition, had photos on some of the windows. And then jus...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Sep 21, 2009, 2:44 am
This weekend was London Open House, which is when you get a chance to sniff around some of the city’s buildings, and see for yourself what makes them special. I have gone past Adelaide Wharf on...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Sep 14, 2009, 10:58 am
Sometimes I despair. So much so that it becomes funny. For example, today at the post office. I got there at 3.15pm, so frankly I had it coming, but still. There is a bloke – floppy hair, skinny jea...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Sep 4, 2009, 4:56 pm
Although Hackney Council has done some pretty dumb things lately– and for a more articulate discussion of that particular drama, head over to Ms Baroque’s blog – they have started a regenera...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Sep 3, 2009, 4:30 pm
The waiting room was empty, the air ripe with an earthy, yet somehow pleasant smell. November sunshine lit up the shiny vinyl floor and the green benches, which were arranged around a coffee table pil...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Aug 27, 2009, 6:26 am
So much on this weekend, and so many people hit the road to leave London, giving the rest of us a bit of breathing space. Here are some suggestions….. You’re probably way too late to book...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Aug 26, 2009, 10:44 am
I finally got around to visiting Passing Clouds a few weeks back. It’s in an unmarked warehouse beside the train tracks just off Kingsland Road, and we stumbled along in the dark for a little wh...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Aug 24, 2009, 9:12 am
One of the things I like about Baroque in Hackney is that she isn’t afraid to be honest. She once made a comment about ‘middle-class guilt flying around like shit in a fan factory’ t...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Aug 18, 2009, 11:33 am

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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Aug 12, 2009, 4:40 pm
Sorry for not writing much lately. There’s been a flurry of international visitors, a battering of the Visa Electron and many a light-hearted exchange in the past few weeks. Oh, and a bit of ...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Aug 5, 2009, 10:54 am
Buen Ayre in Broadway Market is quite the red-blooded experience. The waiters are full of vim –  no obsequious, waif-like simpering here. And from the moment you book, it’s made clear that yo...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Jul 30, 2009, 2:09 pm
Here are some photos of the Dalston Mill, which is open for a short time on an empty block of land just opposite the massive Barratts housing development. You can admire the wheat field, buy drinks, l...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Jul 27, 2009, 4:26 pm
Poor old architects were hit rather hard by the slump, and many a London circle of friends has thrown a gloomy going-away party  as a result. For those with citizenship elsewhere it’s often mea...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Jul 15, 2009, 1:31 pm
First of all, cramming onto a packed train from Highbury & Islington to Dalston Kingsland and someone muttering ‘About 12 people on this train probably have swine flu‘. Really not a nice ...
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zoe d. posted an article on East London Local - Jul 10, 2009, 5:58 pm
If you’re heading to Broadway Market today, my personal tip is a fresh juice from Tony’s stall. Tony Platia ran Francesca’s Cafe for some 30  years until his shop was sold to a deve...
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