friya by the lockUtilising the Ferris Bueller approach to work, I decided to take today off and escape to Camden with Friya. And frankly, it was one of the more fantastic days off I can remember (up there with Toby and my London shopping escapade on a Vodafone sickie). And Friya was also a Camden virgin, so to speak, which made the whole thing doubly exciting. Having met up in Croydon at midday, we headed down to Camden was a bit of strain given the handful of hours sleep we’d had between us. Nonetheless, my stumbling navigation got us there fine and we were soon breathing in the fresh(ish) scent that is Camden air.

First taking her into the small market near the station, she immediately and inevitably fell in love with the vibrancy of the place, as well as the t-shirts and jewellery. We would later return and buy the majority of our purchases from here, in fact. We then wandered off to the lock and surveyed the (somewhat limited) view from the bridge while before heading off for some serious shopping. Top of the list was an attempt to find a suitable corset for her, although we were unfortunately unsuccessful. The one’s we loved were out of our price range and so I advised she just come back again once she’d been working for a while, rather than spending money on something that was just okay.

pensive handsWe grabbed food from a Chinese stall for lunch, which only took Friya about twenty minutes and four laps of food area to pick. No really, that’s actually better than usual for her! We took it back to the lock and ate there, though afterwards she claimed to be too full for the chocolate crêpes she had been eyeing up earlier. I swear her food must expand to four times its original sized after she nibbled at it.

Before heading back to Croydon I picked up a new ring from The Black Rose, and a replacement for an old thumb ring of mine (à la Lestat) which I’d lost in Hertfordshire. In the first market we also grabbed a bunch of t-shirts, including a black and white Marlon Brando Godfather print, a Thundercats one, and my personal favs which were two Tarantino-inspired ones with the Samuel L. Jackson’s “AK-47” and “Ezekiel” speeches respectively. Also picked up one with a mild slogan for her sister, after being vetoed repeatedly by Friya. So one said, “Nobody knows I’m a lesbian.” and another, “Why doesn’t barbie get pregnant? / Cos ken comes in another box.” (and those were the less offensive ones). She’d have liked them.

Ezekiel 25:17Back in Croydon we went to see Hellboy, which I thoroughly recommend to anyone who is just expecting a top notch comic book movie. If you don’t like comic book style action and humour, don’t expect anything more. That’s all there is to it, but paced and directed wonderfully by Guillermo del Toro (of Blade II fame, and also Cronos for those who really know their Mexican vampire film lore – yes, that’s you Sammy!! I’m already a big Ron Perlman fan, and he’s stunningly perfect as the impossibly huge and laconic Hellboy, who’s the sort of unwilling hero who would much rather be at home with a large bowl of chili, but hey, if he has to save the world then he’ll do that too…
As usual Friya loved the bit with the kittens. And possibly for the first time ever, so did I.