I went to Camden yesterday, after a while, and it was nice. It was less than a perfect day, weather-wise, but still, it was nice to be back in one of my favourite parts of London. When the rain lifts, I will sure be back there, probably with some friends, to chill in one of the nice coffee shops and soak in the ambience.
I walked there from Tufnell Park, a nice walk if it's not raining, through the residential neighbourhoods and envied all the homes with high ceilings. The envy was short lived when I pondered the energy bills in winter :). I took a little break in a skate park which I entered for the first time ever even though I've walked or driven past it literally over a thousand times. I saw what looked like a band preparing for their set on the stage that had set up for an event that was about to start.
Camden was packed, a usual, even on a rainy day. I saw all the same characters I'm used to - the punks, the hippies, the hipsters, the cross-dressers and drag queens, the tourists, the locals, the crack-heads and so on. I had something to eat in the market, stopped for coffee, and headed back in the rain back to Tufnell Park. The rain go pretty heavy so I decided to jump on a bus instead. It had been months since I'd been on a bus and it reminded me of 20 years ago when I took that exact bus nearly every day since I lived in the neighbourhood back then.
The funny thing is, when my parents lived in London, they also lived in that same neighbourhood. That was before I was born back in the 1960's. They also took that same bus. The actual busses would have changed, of course, but the number or the line remains the same. They would have had routemasters back then, which were removed from service when the UK was part of the EU. Something to do with safety and EU law if my memory serves me right. I remember getting on them years ago.
I noticed the Starbucks in Camden Market has closed. I wonder when it closed. It was the first time I noticed this. I wonder if it was sometime during the pandemic lockdown. I've since been around there but I probably just didn't notice. It's a white building but it's now been covered in graffiti, which is typical of Camden.
I also noticed the lock bridge is now covered in love padlocks. It's a phenomenon that I first noticed on Charle's Bridge in Prague. I then saw it in Paris and Krakow before noticing it in Shoreditch, London.
It was a nice day and, actually, I didn't really mind the rain. I think we've forgotten that it's supposed to be raining in London. That's kind of the whole point. It's a wet city.
Peace & Love,
Adé
