London Town

Just had a weekend in London. Due to work commitments it was all too short - Friday night to Sunday morning. I went to see Sparks at the Kentish Town Forum on Friday night, where they played their new album, 'Exotic Creatures of the Deep' and an old album, 'Kimono My House'. I could have gone to see them doing 'No. 1 in Heaven' on Saturday, but I saw them do that one last year and didn't want to try and recreate such a magical evening, with me dressed as an angel and loads of people chilling out in the Edward VII pub afterwards. On reflection I think I did the right thing - the pub people were supposed to be meeting up at afterwards had stopped serving and lot of people didn't go the one along the road, so that was a bit of an anti-climax.

I had promised myself I wouldn't go to Camden/Chalk Farm markets this time, but was staying so close to them I ended up there after all. I'm glad I did, I got some great clothes, including a hyper-groovy blue and orange psychedelic print shirt that I wore to the gig (and got lots of compliments about). A couple of tattoo-style t-shirts persuaded me to part with some more cash and my hat fetish was also indulged.

After all these years, I finally got an A to Z of London and this changed the feel of the weekend. Instead of getting the tube everywhere, I walked a lot more and saw places I'd usually miss. I also visited Portobello Market for the first time and spent several hours looking at overpriced clothes and antiques. This is a strategy I will definitely use again!