London Calling

 London

I've been counting down the days to my trip to London. Actually, I 'll be attending a seminar "Creative Methodology" at the Pilgrim's course in Canterbury. Six days in Canterbury, plus a few days in London. I've already been in London a lot of times, taking schoolchildren on sightseeing excursions, but this time it will be a wholy new experience. For the first time I will be completely on my own, with all the time in the world on my hands to see and visit whatever I choose. Therefore I have already started to create my own itinerary.  I have decided to stay away from all the tourist sights I usually have to cover when going with a group. This time it will be a time travel down the memory lane as I intend to visit some places I used to worship back in the 80s, when I was working in London as an au pair.
So here are some things I will certainly not miss this time:

                                      KINGS ROAD                               

Strolling along Kings Road, from Sloane square up to the World's End used to be my favourite walk, about 30 years ago. I was au-pairing in London at that time in a family that lived just off Harrods. I was 18 and London was the most exciting place in the world. These were the days when a group of colorful punkers had a meeting place at the beggining of Kings Road. They were a sort of tourist attraction, taking money from the tourist who wanted to take pictures of them. I remember, they were pretty aggressive if you tried to take a photo without asking for permission and paying first. Kings Road was full of alternative markets, hip shops, punk music coming out of boutiques full blast. I remember Vivienne Westwood's boutique in World's End, with a big clock, above the shop, the hands of the clock going backwards. I have just done some research and found out that the shop still stands at the same spot, so this visit is really going to be a step bacwards in time for me. I found the information about the shop here and if you want some more stories click on Vivienne Westwood  or  VW 

panoramio 

 

fashion traveler

I don't know if Kings Road still has the same atmosphere of a unique area of designers shops I remember, or if it has become another commercialized  clone of Carnaby Street. What Carnaby street was for the Mods of the Beatles generation in the sixties, Kings Road was for  Sid Vicious generation of the eighties. It has been 30 years since I was there last time. I am really curious to see how it looks like now. 

I have just had a glimpse here and they say that it isn't  a mecca for the bohemian young anymore. Here I quote:

Now the Kings Road is like any other fashionably mainstream high street, a safe bet for mid-range ladies dresses, women’s jeans and evening handbags, but nothing to get excited about.

How dissapointing!  

KENSINGTON HIGH STREET

I wonder what happened to Kensington Market and Hyper Hyper Market in Kensington High Street?

When I came to London for the second time, it was in the mid 80s. This second time I was au pairing in a family that lived just off Kensington High Street. So my everyday walks included strolling  down to this three storey indoor market in Kensington High Street, that looked like in the photos above. It was a labyrinth of "positive and funny madness".

  In the 1960s and 70s, it catered to hippie and bohemian culture, and in the 80s it was a real heaven for punk and original alternative, retro and gothic clothing. Among the multitude of stalls (before Queen became popular, Freddie Mercury had a stall there!) there were odd cafes, record stalls, tattooists, hairdressers ... It was a a fascinating place  with an incredible atmosphere and array of funny looking creatures,  "psychedelic freaks of the 80's who chose laughs and hedonism and turned their backs on the yuppiedom of London during that time".
I could spend hours just looking around and soaking in the atmosphere. I didn't really belong to this scene, it was too rough for me, but I was completely fascinated with this underground culture, it was utterly inspirational!

So, Let's do some research about this place right now!

First I found out this  facebook forum for anyone that remembers or worked in Kensington Market London. So I've learned they closed  "a historical piece of British youth culture" down, demolished the building in 2001 and built some other building that is a PC World computer store! Read about it here and here and here.

 Was thinking bout paying it a visit but i guess im 2 late! Wot a shame..
 It seems all these interesting places have gone, and there are clone shops everywhere!