It saddens me to acknowledge the fact that despite living just down the road from Brick Lane in the last year, I didn't make the most of it. A little due to my priorities being elsewhere, a lot due to anxiety and illness. I wish I could have been in a better position to enjoy such a vibrant and exciting part of the city - but now I suppose I'll make the most of my trips down from North London to meet Ainsley (she's still studying at our university and I'm very jealous). On Tuesday I had to take a trip to the hospital to pick up medication they forgot to post to me, so Ainsley and I had a little catch up at the same time. Usually we'd get something nice to eat, but unfortunately I was on a restricted diet for a hospital procedure I had today - so instead I watched Ainsley have some lunch, took a wander up through Brick Lane and had a look in a couple of the shops. One of these shops was the relatively new chocolate shop towards the top of Brick Lane, where I was so excited by the flavours that I bought a tiny bag - forgetting I wasn't allowed to eat them! I was, however, allowed a plain white beigel with margarine from the famous beigel bakery (they're both great, but the white-fronted one is usually less busy!). Not the most exciting of choices, and not quite the apple I was desperate to have by this point, but a Brick Lane beigel is never not delicious. I'm now sitting at home recovering from today's hospital trip - I expected to still be fairly knocked out on sedation medication at this point, but sadly it wore off completely about five minutes into the procedure! However, there is an upside: the salted caramel truffles I bought in the chocolate shop are waiting for me in the fridge.