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Feeling at home in Camden TownGoths, punks and every culture under the sun
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Feeling at home in Camden Town
Since South Africa we have realised that if we are going to stay in London we really have to exploit what it has to offer. Living in Beckenham, we are so far removed from the real London that we might as well be back in South Africa. We start looking for a new home in the city itself.
We move to Camden Town in the end, at Vaughn’s insistence, into a big (for London) apartment at the top of a terrace house, above two old Italians who enjoy reminiscing about the Great War. They point out to us the exact spots where bombs destroyed the old neighbourhood. As a result, we live on the doorstep of three different council estates, and on top of all London’s social problems. Teenage moms, crack addicts, homeless professional dropouts and a whole range of subcultural groups from Jamaican rastas to Spanish goths. Camden is a short bus ride from Angel, which leaves us with London’d two major alternative clubs within 10 minutes from our front door. Not to mention the Camden markets and Hampstead Heath. It’s a weird area, highly functional, incredibly dirty – smelling of old saliva, piss and exhaust fumes, especially in summer – and highly cosmopolitan, with young people of every nationality, and rich and poor living absolutely face to face.
Camden Road railway station – one of the two stations within 10 minutes of our flat – takes us straight to Kew, where we can wander around Kew Gardens, look in estate agent windows, and admire ducks for all we’re worth.
In Camden we meet Chris, and James’ sister Ellie and her partner Ed who move into King’s Cross – also 10 minutes away. At this stage we do not yet know that Ellie and Ed will end up getting married and Chris working for Vaughn.
While we’re living in Camden, Counting Crows appear at the Royal Albert Hall and I convince Bonny and James to come along.
Nick Cave and Bjork appear at Hammersmith Apollo (not at the same time, obviously), and we go to see both, although considering the location of our eats we should have invested in binoculars to make the ticket fee more value for money. Nevertheless, seeing Nick Cave perform live – even as a grasshopper-sized blob on the stage – is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and very rewarding.
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Locations Visited: London
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