Today, Joann, Diane, Jay and I visited the Columbia Road Flower Market in the East End. The market runs every Sunday morning until 2 p.m. There are stalls selling flowers and plants, and sellers crying "Six pots for a fiver" in Cockney accents. The road is lined with shops signaling the semi-gentrification of the area, but we learned that many of these shops are open on Sundays only.

Joann bought a silver ring with a synthetic emerald, Diane bought a nice scarf (for a tenner!) and I bought two kinds of cheese at mini-food market offering fresh olives, cheeses and breads. We snacked on a Cornish pasty and a cheese-and-onion puff (cheese, onion and mashed potato in puff pastry. Joann dubbed it a pierogi in puff pastry).

Later, we ate lunch at Perennial, a cozy, casual restaurant on 110-112 Columbia Road. We all had Sunday roasts, the traditional big meal you can get on a Sunday, usually at a pub. I had the old standby: roast beef, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, accompanied by peas, carrots and snow peas. Jay had the same. Diane and Joann had monkfish wrapped in pancetta and stuffed with herbs.

In addition to lunch on Sundays for flower market-goers, Perennial is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday. I recommend it highly.