People Watching in Camden Town

I had a lovely saturday visiting one of my best friends today. We only tend to meet up every few months or so nowadays due to work and distance, so its always full on when we do get together, catching up and talking about what we're up to. We always seem to have similar patterns in our lives too, so when we need to hear what the other has to say - thats the time we seem to get together!! I think sometimes we have relationships with friends that trancend being friends and can give a deeper meaning to our lives, to understand ourselves better. As I believe in pre-existance and reincarnation, I think some of my friends have been in my life before and are our teachers - and vice versa.

So off I went for the day and we decided on a spur of the minute trip to Camden market. I havent been there for years so it was delightful to meander through the quirky street, amazingly eye catching shops and market stalls. Such a visual delight for the eyes and such wonderful diversity - it was more like being on holiday than walking through a London borough. Colours, interesting knick knacks, strange and wonderful designs of clothes and furnishings. Great fun! But the great thing I really enjoyed was people watching. So many doing their own thing, wearing whatever they wish. Some dressed up, some casual. Students, tourists, londoners, stall holders - a vast collection and mix of society.

After a little foraging about buying one or two sparkly trinkets, I settled back with my friends with a mocha and a biscotti. Sitting on the seats shaped like the back of a vespa, we watched the people walking about. Wondering about their stories. Who they were, what their lives were like, where had they come from and where were they going.

Listening to the drummer beating out a furious rhythm on his kit by the canal, we saw the market traders calling the punters into their little sheds, draping spider web shawls on shoulders. Bartering prices. Smelling the incense smoke and watching sleepy eyed goths walking in the sun - the afternoon still too early to be up.
It was a wonderful time, evocative of summer festivals - it felt very similar to the market place at Glastonbury festival, or walking round Cambridge's Strawberry Fayre. Isnt it wonderful that we are a hotchpotch of differences. May we never be uniform!