#57 Limes in Lewisham

What is it about street markets that makes an otherwise rational woman impulse buy 13 limes just because they only cost a pound?

For those without an SE postcode, Lewisham Market (scene of this morning’s citrus fruit madness) is one of those traditional London markets where just about everything costs a paaaaaand – a bowl of capsicums, five figs, six oranges, four toilet rolls, ten coconut macaroons, a punnet of blueberries/blackberries/raspberries hot up the A20 from Kent. And limes.

This being London, with a direct DLR link into the City, it is also multicultural on several levels which means you can get anything from freshly dug King Edwards to sugar cane, yams and fresh dates; thimbles and tailor’s chalk to Yves Klein blue freeze pops and floral plastic loo seats (yours for a fiver, just next to the satin bedsheets).

It was founded in 1907 and bombed out in the Blitz. Stalls like the fishmonger (cockles £5 a pint) have been there aeons. Recent arrivals include The Candy Sisters who sell traditional sweets from jars and collect old 78s, and The Sausage Man, a sort of German imbis where you can get authentic currywurst, should you happen to be a homesick Berliner lost in SE13.

In the mean time, I’ve got to find something to do with 13 limes. I guess I’ll be drinking mojitos for the forseeable. Well, it could be worse:

If anyone has any better suggestions for what to do with a lime surplus, do let me know. In the mean time, here’s a website dedicated to mojito recipes.

Lewisham Market is open 9am-6pm Mon-Sat.