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.