The grass is always greener in someone else's teeth

For me, Leicester Square is the heart of London. It is packed with people, street performers, park benches, restaurants, nearby theatres and more importantly, Ben and Jerry's. We hang out there often to people watch and eat icecream. So, there we were sitting on a park bench in Leicester Square when a gentleman in his 80's (or possibly 90's) sits down next to us. He is wearing an expensive looking tweed suit with a matching tweed hat. Expensive looking but also antiquated.....probably at least 50 years old (and most likely the first nice suit he ever bought). He looks over at Dallas----(now I have to tell you that everyone talks to Dallas---EVERYONE--on planes, in stores, on the street, in restaurants, and in Leicester Square.). So the nice elderly gentleman looks over at Dallas and says (in a very proper, nasally English accent), "Excuse me....but could I ask you a question?" I immediately turn away, smiling---I know something good is coming. Dallas answers "Yeah, sure." (Now I am really smiling). The man goes on, "I just had a salad and I was wondering if I have anything green stuck in my teeth". He then bares his teeth at Dallas in a large grimacey-smile. At this point I am laughing out loud and really not trying to hide it. I also notice that a young guy on the bench across from us has been listening in and he too is laughing. We catch each other's eye and we begin laughing harder. Meanwhile next to me Dallas is closely examining Mr. Tweed's teeth looking for signs of greenery. "Nope, looks good" he remarks. "Why thank you", says Mr. Tweed, who then spends 30 minutes discussing how he hates to go anywhere with green in his teeth, and how the place around the corner does not know how to make a proper salmon sandwich, and how he meets his friends for tea every day at a cafe' and how Henry always brings some lemon because some of them like lemon in their tea and this cafe' does not have lemon......etc. Later that day ---in Leicester Square again--another guy (this one wearing a cap with the original price tags still hanging on it) starts up a conversation with Dallas. He begins by giving him a lecture on how important it is to be positive in life (true) and ends with how lucky we are that the aliens have not abducted us (hmmmm....also true). I was waiting for him to get to the part about how the aliens use anal probes on their subjects. Fortunately he never got to that point....

Confessions of a Former Punk

OK OK...I admit it . I was one of them. A Punker, New Waver, whatever. I don't care what you say---we were cool. So here I am circa 1985. (and I am still Punked out deep down inside---which explains my draw to Camden Town. I really love those Camden Punks)

London, London

We just spent a week in my favorite city, London. It was so nice to be able to speak English when ordering in a restaurant or asking for directions instead of engaging in our usual frantic charades. We did the typical stuff you do when in London.....went to plays (Wicked, Jersey Boys, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat), visited the Tower Bridge, hung out at Westminster Abbey, shopped on High Street, sat on the steps people-watching at St. Paul's Cathedral, rode the red double-decker buses all over, and went to the markets--Camden Town being our favorite. I was first in London almost 15 years ago and have been there a dozen times since. I am always amazed at how Camden Town has not changed one bit. It really is in a time warp.... punk-rockers with 12 inch mohawks, hard-core bald guys with tatooed heads, crazy girls with hot pink hair and everyone wearing wild (usually all black) clothes looking like they are on their way to a Halloween party. It was this way in 1984 and it is EXACTLY the same now. The hip in-crowd seems to be under the illusion that they are avant-garde and cutting edge. I wanted to tell them that they are actually dressing very old-fashioned, at least in a Camden Town sorta way. In any case, they are just as jaw-dropping interesting-looking today as they were 15 years ago. And perhaps that is the point they are trying to make. Now, in spite of all the punk-coolness going on in Camden Town, the rest of London seems oblivious to style and taste. About 90% of the people in London could be featured on the show "What Not to Wear". Just maybe this is exactly the reason that the Punks (or whatever they call themselves today) have stuck to the same style for 15 years......because it keeps them from falling into the current fashion statement of Today's London: the "I just blindly grab stuff out of my closet to wear" style, or the other style frequently seen--"Today at work they had a 'most hideously dressed' contest, and I WON!". But all of this just adds to the charm (and hiliarity) that is London. So for me--Camden Town is the real London.