It was always going to be difficult to write a subjective review of London due to the fact that I see it every day. Things that had me walking around with my jaw grazing the pavement when I was but a country bumpkin of 18 years have now become commonplace. Where jumping on the tube only to have my head squashed between an elbow, someone's greasy ear and a dirty smear on the door used to be interesting and exciting in a thrill-seeking "I could die of suffocation" kind of way, now it's just plain boring. The constant rush of people that used to make me feel alive and invigorated now makes me think that half the people in other towns and cities are zombies with nowhere to go and no obvious point in being out other than the sole purpose of getting in the way of people who actually have things to do and places to be. Walking behind people is an everyday chore, irate builders in vans and lorries lean on their horns for minutes at a time and shout curses at each other, rain not only means you get wet, but that you risk decapitation from the hundreds of umbrella points whirling past your neck at any given time. This is London for commuters... No wonder so many people walk around swearing to themselves with immortal scowls on their faces.
Now you can either be amused by all this, or completely exasperated. I prefer to take the former view, and those delightful people of the latter only serve to make my life that much more amusing. To this end, I love London. I love that it's overcrowded, noisy and ridiculously busy, I love the grumpy people, I love the tourists that walk at a yard an hour with fluffy union jack top hats on that - I'm sure as part of some organised intent - drive the City suits completely barmy. Make no mistake, London has its own unique charm, and that's before you even get to the 'good' bits - the architecture, the history, the parks, the differences between the boroughs, the gigs, the nightlife, the restaurants, the theatre (apparently). All of these factors serve to make London one of the most interesting and exciting cities in the world, and I can safely say I've seen my fair share now.
Carsten's first evening in the country was spent - rather predictably - in a pub. After a few pints we grabbed some fish & chips, watched an episode of Red Dwarf and passed out from exhaustion. Saturday then, and an early start with some coffee, Special K and toast & Bovril for breakfast before making our way into town for a sightseeing expedition. Starting in Covent Garden, we made our way to Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Westminster and then back to Leicester Square for that most traditional of English meals - the Bacon Double Cheeseburger. After that it was Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and Knightsbridge to check out Harrods. Thankfully Carsten is as emphatic about window-shopping as me (that is to say - not at all) so we jumped on the tube to Baker Street to see Madame Taussauds. Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate the skill in carving an entire person out of wax, but £25 to look at them? It's not like they're real celebrities is it? I went to a gig and saw my favourite band in the flesh last week, and it only cost me a tenner. Where's the justice I ask you? We decided against it and made our way to Camden.
You can't help but like Camden. It has something for everyone, from the £3 food stalls to the classy restaurants, from the beauty of the canals to the bizarrely dressed punks and Goths decorated with piercings. It is a feast for the senses, with dance and reggae music blasting out from shop speakers, mingled smells from stalls selling delicious food of every nationality, bright colours and ridiculous clothing, dodgy characters trying to sell you weed at every corner, the stunningly beautiful, the horrendously ugly. It's all there clamouring for your attention. I took Carsten to Cyberdog - a shop full of over-the-top clubbing attire for the electronic music devotees of this world, run by scantily-clad women in PVC outfits and a guy with fluorescent yellow measuring tape stuck to his shaved head. This shop is eccentricity personified, and a well-loved destination by everyone I've ever taken there. We moseyed around the rest of The Stables Market looking at the various bits and bobs on sale and continued to query each other's level of hunger, both of us looking for an excuse to try some of the food on offer. We grabbed a lamb curry - possibly not the best of choices since Carsten had just arrived from India so it was never really going to impress him. I bought some new guitar strings, then we trekked across town and jumped on the bus back home since by this point I was practically falling asleep standing up.
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