Day 38 - neighbourhoods

Finally leaving a heart in the 'hood. Feels like it's been a while. One or two earlier on in Lent, but often finding that I was leaving them outside our immediate locality, or out of Hackney altogether. This is in direct contrast to those Advent signs which we only leave on Chatsworth Road. So it was good to leave one there today. Though the builders working on the empty shop next to Chatsworth Supermarket seemed a bit nonplussed by it all.

I read in the Hackney Citizen - which I do quite like even though it feels about the most incongruous paper ever - that the Coop is opening a store on Chatsworth Road, and though there had been a lot of local resistance to a Tesco metro on the same site, the landlord was hoping there'd be more support for a Coop. I'm in two minds. I'd probably use a Coop for 'small shops' and to be honest I usually head to Sainsburys on the Lower Clapton Rd for this - so the local shops wouldn't be really missing out, but I use Chats Supermarket so much for this and that, one or two things we need immediately, and I do wonder if I'd be loyal if there was a Coop in walking distance. To be honest I probably would be - my use of Chats Supermarket is mostly to do with my laziness, as it's absolutely the nearest shop to our front door, and unless the Coop is taking over the Creperie premises it's likely to remain so. But it is a dilemma. It would be a shame for local shops to feel they're pushed out because of its arrival, but with the increasing 'boutique' feel on the Road perhaps there are not that many shops it would be in direct competition with, especially as the Spar and Homerton Express have already arrived as larger grocery stores?

I've often wanted to do 'more' in the local community - ideas of interfaith groups and street parties have floated around in my head for years. I'm held back by not being the sort to 'make things happen' - I'd rather tag along supporting others. But increasingly I feel these are things which I need to get off my arse for otherwise they are always going to be the ones that got away. Anyone up for a new adventure?