When June comes round a heck of a lot of events happen. Temperatures are up, daylight's almost at its max, the sun should be out and it pays to make the most of these optimum conditions. Some pencil in July or August, but an awful lot of diary organisers flick no further than June and schedule their big event there. Be it major festival, community show, stadium gig or local arts event they come thick and fast at this time of year because the optimum outdoor window in the UK is restrictively brief.
The start of June gets particularly chocker, so for example this weekend we've had London Open Gardens Weekend, The Great Exhibition Road Festival, Beyonce at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Big Lunch, the Hammersmith Summer Street Festival, Open Farm Sunday, Lido Festival and of course the Lambeth Country Show.
I didn't feel the need to go to the Lambeth Country Show this year because Saturday was a washout so I thought Sunday might be over-busy, also it's never been the same since they erected the perimeter wall, also I've seen the owls and sheep shearing before, also Chucklehead didn't come this year, but the atmosphere's always great and the horticultural show vegetable displays are consistently brilliant even if it's got harder and harder to actually see them, and no other borough council puts on anything even vaguely approaching this so it would be best to take advantage while it lasts. If you did go, we'd welcome a 50 word review of what you thought.
To be fair I didn't know it was on until I got there, the Theydon Bois Horticultural Society don't usually broadcast it far and wide. Also it's in Essex so it was never going to slip into Londonist's list of Things To Do This Weekend. But there was a great big banner on the fence outside The Bull where local folk couldn't have missed it, and I eventually found a poster in the window of the Theydon Bois Bakery opposite the giant gingerbread man. Tickets were £5 from the Village Hall with refreshments served in the Church Hall nextdoor, all proceeds to St Clare Hospice and the Air Ambulance and sorry no dogs. I was however too early for the 12 noon start and didn't fancy hanging around the village's unlikely branch of the Brick Lane Bagel Co with the grey haired men for the best part of an hour so moved on. I suspect the TBHS Annual Show is better because it has tortoise races, but that's not until July.
To be fair it only opened two years ago and is tucked away at the end of the station car park. That said you can't miss the L11 locomotive they're repairing as your train pulls into Epping station, it's bright yellow and really stands out. It's an electric shunting loco created by welding 1931 two haulage cars together and is one of the exhibits you can look around if the front gate's unlocked. The other treasure here is a proper signal cabin full of levers to pull with a room full of railway ephemera underneath, mostly signalling related. Obviously it's not another 'start of June' one-off, but it does only open on Saturdays (from 10am) so I was never going to get inside and indeed I didn't. If you have been, we'd welcome a 50 word review of what you thought.
To be fair this was never really up my street, more up other people's, but it was another special Sunday thing anyone could have enjoyed. Over 50 households took part, easily identified via a QR code and a Google map because promoting a multi-location community event is easier than it once was. I mention the SWJT solely to confirm that not every one-off June event is a big-hitter, indeed there might well be one round your way if you think to look.
To be fair I almost did, I often walk down to Cedars Park whenever I'm at Theobalds Grove, but on this occasion I'd already walked twenty minutes in the opposite direction before I spotted the poster. Also if you want to attract punters maybe don't lead with 'Inspiring Talks - Bugs, Bees and Birds' as your lead item. But if you're a council it's plainly a good idea to host an eco-friendly event in a local park, ticking all kinds of upcycling and sustainability boxes, plus the opportunity to offer free bike maintenance checks at the same time. It's not exactly Beyonce-level but not everyone wants to pay over the odds to stand in a football stadium and hear none of the old hits so there's a lot to be said for kid-friendly activities and a book swap.
I did go and see where Tesco Head Office used to be.
I was in the area, one street back from Cheshunt station, where ten years ago the supermarket behemoth evacuated their Delamare Road HQ and relocated to Welwyn Garden City. The concrete bulwark I remembered had of course been demolished and replaced by housing, but somehow still under construction after the developers went bust and had to be rescued by a big name company. The first phase is as typically anodyne as you'd expect, though plainly meeting a need, and the shared ownership shoeboxes coming soon are yours for under £75k. Strangely the development's called Cheshunt Lakeside despite absolutely not being beside a lake, and ironically there's a new Tesco Express round the corner just before the level crossing. I did wonder, as I stood on a former industrial estate looking at nothing much, what the hell I was doing here rather than attending a brilliant start-of-June one-off event.
On my way home I watched Londoners heading off to brilliant start-of-June one-off events.
They did seem to be everywhere yesterday, packs of folk intent on crossing the capital to attend that event they'd saved up for and were damned well going to enjoy. They tottered off trains in their high heels and crocheted stetsons, they gulped down their pre-festival canned cocktails and they moved with intent towards the entertainment of their dreams. Outside Barking station a steward in a blue tabard shepherded excitable lads with partying on their mind towards the park where Dr Banana, Sweely and Rich NxT would provide the pulsing soundtrack on an outdoor dancefloor, all yours for £72, and for god's sake don't lose your photo ID in the funky melee. You work all winter and in the summer you splash out to live your best life for one glorious afternoon, hopefully two or three.
Some things you can do any day and some things you can only do once, or once a year, often in the jam-packed month of June. Seize the day, or rather seize the Sunday... carpe Solis.
