A daycation to Camden

This afternoon, at the behest of my sanity and upon the invitation of Kirsten, I took a daycation to Camden.


Famous for its market, its Lock and a pervading air of scruffiness, Camden has a fascinating sort of charm. It's kind of where fads of past decades go, not to die as it were unfortunately, but to live in a kooky kind of co-existence. Patent leather platform Doc Martens, meet gold lycra tights. Mohawk, meet the backcombed bee-hive. That sort of thing. It's a fairly tawdry place and over-run with tourists, which is a shame as apart from anything else, it means you can't gawk in a tourist-like manner and take photos in any of the totally bizarre stores selling day-glo spiked collars and PVC t-shirts while scary looking goths spin discs in the corner. I swear to god - I just have to hear the distant doof doof of techno and I feel like I'm back in high school. And I remember acutely how uncool I was.


You can buy almost anything here - especially if it's made from polyester leopard print or reconstituted plastic... It's a terrible thing really when you enter a store and your mind immediately starts to narrow.

There was lots by way of food though and tempting knick knacks of the dust-gathering variety and plenty to distract and amuse and I dare say I'll be back at some point for a good rummage. As long as they hold off on the acid house music.

I can't quite believe tomorrow is the 1st of December. Holy shit. This time in three weeks I will be somewhere over Mongolia, assuming my plane leaves on time... which means there are only three weeks left of school for the year. If my last essay is anything to go by, I suspect there will be lots of procrastinating and online pondering in the next two weeks as I struggle through the world's most torturous group project. Stay tuned for news on that one.

There isn't really much else to report at the moment as I have spent the better part of the weekend asleep. There's a certain decadence to going to bed and not setting the alarm that I rather enjoy and I don't regret a single hour I've spent under the covers these last two days. If nothing else it's been a pleasant way to distract from a pervading blasé faire sense of statelessness (masquerading as homesickness) that seems to have overcome me of late. Thankfully I'm not going to have a minute to think about it between now and when I check in at the Cathay Pacific desk in three weeks time. And failing that there are always chocolate and peanut butter milkshakes to distract me.