A day out shopping

I arrived in Baltimore early Sunday night. Straight to the hotel in a taxi, and straight to bed. The hotel I stayed in was at the Johns Hopkins area. The meeting/workshop was in the hotel. We walked a couple of hundred metres to a University cafeteria, and that was my contact to the outside world. It was autumn and the leaves were orange.

The two day workshop ended late Tuesday afternoon. I had planned on spending Wednesday out in the Baltimore harbor. I checked out of the hotel and asked for a taxi. I got the taxi but was told to spend the day at a mall instead of the harbor - it was raining so there was no point in walking in the rain.

So the mall it was. I should have gone to a museum instead, but I wanted to bring the family some items we can't get in South Africa. Namely, I was after books. I couldn't find one for Heikki (about the sequencing of Drosophila) but I found Matias some good anatomy books. He'll need them for learning about the skeleton before going for the paleontological dig later on.

I bought myself a couple of Alexander McCall Smith books I hadn't read before, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the airport. What a waste of a day.

The flight to London was something like 6-7 hours. We arrived sometime before 9 on Thursday morning. I was facing 8 hours at the airport. As the plane was landing, I realised the 8 hours could be spent wisely. My first idea was to go to Hinxton campus to see friends, but the logistics were not feasible. It would take me 2 hours to get there and 2 hours back, but Hinxton is quite far from the airport. I could get stuck somewhere on the way. I couldn't risk it.

I then decided to go to Camden for the day. Getting there took as long as it would have taken me to get to Hinxton, but somehow it didn't seem as bad. Camden is not as far in distance as Hinxton. If one transportation method failed, I could go for another one.

I walked around in the Chalk Farm market area, past the noodle stalls. I popped in to see if I could see Lol at Black Rose. She used to do Astrid's and my hair in the good old days when my hair was braided pink or purple. I couldn't see her so I continued on, popping in to the various Goth shops. I wasn't planning on buying anything in particular, but I just wanted to feel the Camden vibe. I walked in the cool autumn air and tried to suck in all the smells, the sounds and the sights of my lovely Camden.

I went to see Julie at Cold steel. I ended up spending about two hours there, chatting and getting a couple of things done, and buying a couple of things to take home.

I do love England. Perhaps we should move back one day. For now, I think I'll just have to try and arrange my US flights so, that I can spend a whole day in England in between the connecting flights.