Something Old

Yes, it's the first line in that wedding rhyme. No, I'm not going to talk about THE wedding - as it is now referred to (although I have managed to mention it). Instead the rhyme is in honour of the 5 weddings (one down, four to go) that I am attending this year. Above is the most recent wedding invitation (I love it); a message in a bottle - it's going to be by the sea!

But enough of wedding particulars/excitements - back to the subject at hand: Something Old. On Monday I went for a stroll, or rather a rummage, around Camden market. I couldn't actually remember the last time I'd visited the place and lots had changed. Where had the nice lady from New Zealand gone with her cool leather bags and her awesome collection of sunglasses? Where was the random shop/stall with the amazing array of converse - NEVER seen anywhere else? And where was one of my favourite hotspots for cool t-shirts? All gone. But, there were other gems to discover...

The market near the Proud Gallery has undergone some renovation (forgive me if it's been like that for sometime - it was all new to me) and now exists on several levels. The vintage shops have had a bit of a make over and there were plenty of clothes, shoes, accessories (and bicycles!) to keep me occupied.

In the stables market (slightly underground and quite dark) more retro stuff was to be discovered, from typewriters to old school lugguage covered in comic book prints. Mitch was drawn to a stall full of toys - mostly from the 80s & 90s. It was a pretty impressive collection of plastic, not to mention the polaroid cameras.  I think it's got to be part of the human condition that we seek things from the past, particularly our own. Either that or I am a horder (my dniosaurs from when I was small have been saved from the car-boot-sale) and I have met another - Mitch - with his vast collection of sega megadrive games. Yet, looking at the smiling faces of Barbie, Action Man and the not so smiley face of optimus prime left me feeling pretty old. Thankfully there's so much going on in Camden you're not really given much time to reflect on the inevitability of the aging process.

Trips to Camden always feel a bit nostalgic. My youth: buying studded belts, badges and earings made from plectrums; obligatory sweet'n'sour chicken and a can of coke; wandering around cyberdog and looking massively out of place (some things don't change). It's good to know that everyone else who ambles around the market has grown up too. Despite it being a bank holiday it wasn't full of kids, it was, just as I remember Camden, a pretty mixed bag.