A Spitalfields Life

A long market yesterday, beginning as usual with a pot of tea and birdsong as dawn broke over the Heath and ending with several rounds of drinks with the Empress of Arcadia and our old friends retired Company Sergeant Major George Cossington and his delightful wife Shirley as well as a host of other market faces in the snug at The Golden Heart Public House.  Every chipped china cup and every glass was raised as a congratulatory toast in raucous celebration of the opening of the 'Market Portraits' exhibition http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/02/01/spitalfields-market-portraits/ which runs until March 10th in three locations, the clothing shop Agnes B in Lamb Street, the public house The Golden Heart on Commercial Street and the record shop Rough Trade East in the Truman Brewery.  The exhibition of photographs by Mr. Jeremy Freedman and accompanying biographies by 'The Gentle Author' is said to be a profile of the antiques market at Spitalfields but it is really a testament to the truly historical and inspirational work of the Gentle Author Himself, a discreet and gracious figure who was correctly described by one newspaper as the 'real Samuel Pepys' and whose work forms the daily journal www.spitalfieldslife.com.