Camden
I interrupt the Hong Kong Diaries to bring you some images of Camden market.
I've been staring at the tv in disbelief for the last hour watching images of giant orange flames licking the London sky. Its heartbreaking to watch such a beautiful, unique and historical part of town burning. Camden is one of my favourite bits of Londontown. My very first trip to London way back in 2001, I stayed in Camden with Renate. We fell in love with the area immediately.
The news is delivering conflicting reports about what has been burnt and what hasn't. One minute its mainly warehouses and The Hawley Arms, the next they say perhaps the Canal Market has also burned. I assume by tomorrow things will be clearer.
I don't like it when places that I love are destroyed.
These night photos were taken less than a month ago, on the 23rd of Jan.
These are from October 21st, 07
July 3rd, 2007 - Gilgamesh - Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road
The food here is gorgeous. Pricey, but well worth it.
++++ Sunday, Feb. 10 ++++
Some of you asked for updated news on the Camden fire, so I'm adding this little note to the blog. Firstly, and most importantly, there were no casualties or injuries. Amazing consdering how large the fire was and how quickly it spread. At this point no one knows how the fire started, but it is known where it started.
The stalls that were affected were in the Canal Market, not in the main part of the market. All of the photos that I featured above are in the main market.
When I first heard about the fires I heard if from Sky News. They are a bit trashy (kinda like Fox in America), but they do have a lot of video footage and other links here.
I think Sky mentioned that Amy Winehouse drank at Hawley Arms at least 30 times in the hour that I was watching their footage. At one point they even managed to mention her name twice in one sentence. When they grew momentarily tired of repeating Amy's name, they latched on the work 'artisans' to describe Camden's crowd and then repeated that with glee for the next 10 minutes. Honestly! The reporters were shockingly transparent in their excitement over the big news.
The BBC is a little less sensational and more reliable in their reporting.
The RTÉ reports on the number of people out of work because of the fire. Not to be remiss, the good people at the RTÉ also make sure to get Amy Winehouse's name in the article. Has anyone reached Amy Winehouse for a comment on how everyone seems more concerned that that she's lost her supposedly favourite haunt, than any other fallout resulting from this fire?
The Camden Council's list of all affected properties.
