Another day another market

We hadn't been to Camden Markets since before the fire that burnt out all the good bits; the antiques and bric-à-brac chaps. On a post-breakfast whim, we, after deciding that we are rather fond of the whim and promising to use it more in our planning this year, determined to make use of what was undoubtedly the last sun of the week, and head off in direction Camden Town.

With a forecast temperature maxing out at a mind numbing eight degrees, we took our jumpers out of the bag, the ones from the outdoor clothes shop back home, and wandered off wondering how it was possible that two people who just two days ago felt quite cool sitting on a verandah as the evening temperature plummeted to twenty-two, could now feel quite comfortable comparatively scantily clad in a climate which would be perfectly placed inside a device used to keep beer chilled.

The markets themselves did not disappoint, full of colour in the broadest sense,  and plagiarised Banksy postcards made to look original by large signs forbidding photography.   Without the Beatles, Princess Di and Banksy, and perhaps to a lesser extent that other well known Brit, Marilyn Monroe, there would be no printed tee shirts and seven hundred unemployed vendors in Camden I think.   It's a shame that such a great opportunity to present original work is squandered in the name of putting food in the mouths of the stall holders children.

Perhaps it's a bigger pity that there are so many prepared to pay actual money for this stuff that the stall holders thrive.  One vendor read the label on my jumper as we wandered past and called me over, "Kathmandu" he exclaimed in a somewhat excited tone, continuing with "Have you been there?"

Alas I explained, I hadn't but it is on our list of places to go, people to see, and I did add by way of explanation that on this occasion the word served merely as a brand for stuff that keep us warm.

He seemed a little taken aback, "It's the capital of my country," he explained, adding in a puzzled tone. "How can they sell out the name of my country's first city like that?"

He could see there was nothing I could do to rectify this travesty, shook his head in disbelief and offered us two Banksy original-copy tee shirts for the price of one.