Noncation

A hostel can be a great place to meet other people from all over the world and be annoyed by their personal habits and noisemaking. But that only happens if other people are in your room. Normally, I would be thrilled to be alone in a hostel, but the other night, it echoed my disappointment.
But, it did make for a quiet night and I used all the pillows I wanted. In the morning, renewed by the unseasonable weather, I continued in my quest to discover new places in the city.
I love markets, which makes England a great place for me because every town has a market going on all the time. I especially love the ones that sell beautiful looking vegetables and on the other end of the market spectrum, the ones that sell weird-ass stuff. I was advised to visit Camden to see their market. Camden market/lock area make all other markets I've seen look like boring. None have so much color, flavor, and culture.
Foods from almost every continent were fresh at lunch time. New, delicious smells enticed me around every corner. And the stuff for sale. From the practical to the ridiculous. Everything you could think of, clothes, jewlery, candles, furniture, carousel figures. And I don't know what it is about Camden, but I've never seen so many bongs for sale. I kind of thought they were illegal, but I guess they are for 'tobacco.'
I didn't spot the crackie of camden but I did see part of the funeral procession for Malcolm McLaren which was interesting. The old school punks were out to pay their respects.
From there I visited more museums. For the first time in five years I went back to the British Museum and was overwhelmed again. I took a free tour of one room, which may be the way to go. Take these free tours, one at a time, and then after 8-10 years you may have a good handle on the museum. It is enormous to say the least with millions of objects to see from all over the world spanning the entire age of man. Rushing through to get to my tour felt so wrong, repeating in my head was 'appreciate, appreciate, appreciate' but to appreciate every item there would be impossible. For example. they have a mummified body from Egypt that was buried over 5000 years ago. And there it is, in a glass case in England, for all the world to see. I bet he never expected that when he died.
On the way back to get my bag from the hostel I stopped in the Tate Britain which has a special place in my heart. I eavesdropped on a very good tour for a while and then visited the 'new' Turner collection.

I made some dinner and then headed for the train station, fully back in love with London. I don't know if I love it because it's great or because it's the first place where I was free to explore on my own. It wasn't my first European experience but the city left quite an impression on me. Overhearing some hostel conversations brought me to this line of thinking. A girl was there with her friend and they were discussing what to do for dinner. And she suddenly said, 'We can go wherever we want. It's so weird to be...making decisions.' And in that moment she realized the awesome power of being away from home by yourself. That feeling that has gripped so many others, and will never let go.
As you can see, waiting in the train station is just as boring as waiting anywhere else; the mind wanders. After loitering in the WHSmith, reading magazines I had no intention of buying I had nothing else to do other than watch people and think. Two of my favorite past times.