Yummy Dlo Ham

A beautifully sunny day. One of three young magpies, taken through the window, who soon discovered that I had put some dlo* ham out for them.

*dlo, pronounced delo, is the backslang for old. My mother-in-law used to use it and many other backslang terms in her Hoxton greengrocery shop. Always sell the dlo first. 

PS I've included a link about East End Backslang. My mother-in-law came from a family of costermongers. Her father sold fruit and vegetables from a barrow, then from a stall in Hoxton market. He worked hard and eventually bought a shop. The traders used backslang so that they could talk covertly amongst themselves about their stock, customers and business. One of these words that most people will know is yob.