Tuesday, December 26, 2006 — London 0 Comments
London is an fascinating place. If you've got a mind to look, London will show you some pretty interesting things. I've found the strangest possibilities here!
Just near to where I am staying is a whacky antiques shop. It's run by a chatty owner who seems more enthusiastic then knowledgeable about his wares. From what my friend Elliott tells me, his business model is simple: defy odds, thereby stay in business.
One of the best parts of my trip has been digging through musky shelves in second-hand bookstores lined with dog-eared classic paperbacks, and quirky titles like "The Corinthian". I find this a great way to wait out the rain, if you're not in a hurry.
To my delight, there are coffee houses everywhere you go here; providing respite and fuel for the rat race. They tend to come in two types: the cosy, and the trendy. But both are crowded and expensive so you end up spending a lot of money on coffee. You see, by the time you're at the front of the queue to order your drink, you've waited too long to go back out into the rain and start looking for someplace to be extorted less. It's easier to just pay the £2 and try to make it last.
If you ever come to London, get someone to take you to Camden. I say "get someone" because you’ll probably be a little freaked out your first time there. Camden is an eyeful. When I got there I felt like I had just walked onto the set of some movie crossed between Star wars, Notting Hill and Sinbad the Sailor. I kid you not! This little corner of London is a maze of renovated stables where merchants sell everything bizarre (The Bazaar for the Bizarre). People here dress like its Halloween and seem quite serious about it. Elliott took me to see Camden at night, which is the best time to see it because everything looks magical in the glow of streetlights and laser gizmos. We strolled around, ducking into canvas tents every now and again to inquire about some inexplicable trinket. We even had a discussion with a stall keeper about how he'd determined the commercial value of a mound of glow-in-the-dark clay dough.
We followed the exotic smells all the way to the food stalls where we *feasted* ourselves on measly morsels of some of the best Asian food I've ever tasted. But because the cost of eating out in London could feed a family of six for a week, we contented ourselves at ogling and salivating. Elliot bought vintage vinyl on the way home.
I've got one more day here so I'm going to see as much of the city as I can tomorrow. I'm going to stop writing now because this movie on TV's starting to get interesting.
