<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">I live in London but I am from Milan in my heart. I miss Italian architecture and dolce vita AKA easy living. Given my mixed background —my parents are Albanian and past cities I've lived in Milan, Istanbul, and now London— I feel that I still need to find the place where I want to settle. So far, NYC and Barcelona are on the top.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">I have recently found inspiration at &nbsp;The Castel Cinema which is a beautifully crafted little cinema in Homerton. The bar makes you feel like you are in the 1920s (it opened in 1913!). Super retro cool vibe with a diverse movie selection, some of which are even played in 16mm format.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">After living 6 years in London, I have just discovered: that I love coffee! I was never into coffee back in Italy as it was too strong, usually, they only drink espresso, and only here I started drinking coffee thanks to latté, flat white, dirty chai, etc.&nbsp;</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">I love walking around&nbsp;Victoria Park with Angela (my partner) and Cliff (our lovely dog). It's a wide and open space, with plenty of greenery, little ponds, and secret gardens.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">I mostly shop vintage. A sustainable shop I like to cruise around: Paper Dress Vintage.&nbsp;</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">A Londoner you must meet is Lawrence from Hackney Bread Kitchen. He is a professor who bakes at the back of his house in Hackney out of passion. The best focaccia you'll ever eat in the whole UK (and I can say this because I'm Italian). Not only he's super friendly, and into movies (he reminds me of David Lynch), but the passion that he puts in what he bakes is truly inspiring and deserves all the credits for it!</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Only a true Londoner would know where to get good coffee on a rainy day and. One of my favourite local hangouts is: Dark Arts Coffee Shop.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In this erratic city, I complain the most about passive-aggressiveness.&nbsp;It's still something I can't understand and don't tolerate, but besides that, even the weather is not that bad, so I try not to complain too much.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">When I want to escape big city life:&nbsp;I go to Margate, a half plus one hour's train ride from London. Seems a bit like a copy of East London but more chilled and less busy. Lots of unique vintage shops, antiques, great food, and cute coffee and you get an amazing view of cliffs and sea.</li></ul>

It’s early. If we divide the day into 24-hour slots. Before established stores half-open their shutter, after empty bottles spread around the concrete. A new nation is settling down on the street which, during the weekday, pedestrians, dogs, and bikes pass through to reach their destination at Old Street, London Bridge, Bank or Blackfriars. On Saturdays and Sundays, the symphony of vegetables boiling in casseroles, cheese melting between bread slices, Guinness mixing into bloody mary to assemble the perfect blend, and coffee pouring into cartoon cups is heard. A constituent wonders if single-used products should be banned; if, no matter what the material: glass, cartoon, plastic, can, the harm human manifests is the same. "A poll should be held," one thinks. Within a couple of minutes, seconds, and moments, the weekend country called Broadway Market is founded.&nbsp;The homeland of Broadway Market is desegregated. According to legend, once upon a time created by Zhuge Liang as a military strategy, in Hong Kong switched to rice flour from wheat due to environmental reasons; in Taiwan filled with crab, beef, or sweet potato; in Shanghai when steamed turned into a delicious soup, bao is here, in the middle of the market, right next to the musical act of the day, in its usual place. Maybe a couple of inches to the right from where it used to be the prior week. In Broadway Market, the places are not fixed neither to the ground nor to the adjacent neighbor. It’s flexible. "A dosa with potatoes in exchange for your chocolate churros," a vendor says to the adjoining one. The currency within the inhabitants is barter.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/2/3/1679469550705.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">A regular day at the Broadway Market<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">No passport, no identity card, and no credentials is asked while entering. A couple of smiles, "Would you like to try a falafel? How about a Kolkati roll?" I’ve been asked. While walking, 2 distinct smell catches my attention. The first one is 5K (cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, cloves and cumin), commonly known as Masala Chai, taking its origins from India, but as a known world traveler, making Broadway Market another stop on its journey. The second one, more dominant, a dark roast coffee and potent condensed milk, slowly dripping through a metal filter (phin). Ah! Vietnamese Coffee.&nbsp;Chit-chat accompanies the lines forming, and a new language, let's call it Broadwayan is formed. Selam! আপনি কেমন আছেন, thử 宝 ? It’s approximately noon, according to the sun’s placement on the sky right. Today I’m a visitor at the Democratic Weekend Nation of Broadway Market.March 23, from an endless pace of footstepsAccompanied by&nbsp;<a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTw-NrqKigs" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Opal - For Tet Remix</a>Hazal

A weekly journal of neighbourhoods to dig into urban culture, people stories, and sociocultural dynamics. In every issue, we meet an inhabitant in their hood where they live, create or belong.

Nivi Jasa