Crazy Camden

Amy at large

So my main income at the moment is trickling in from a little Tapaz bar situated just outside the heart of Camden. Walking up the high street you see an eclectic bunch to say the least, big punk/ goth scene, lots of piercings, knee-high black boots with metal projections scattered all over the place. Piercings everywhere, pink, blue and purple hair - it's like entering an episode of futurama. You also have the rasta's, yellow red and green flags, hats with fake dreads and walk into any shop along the high street to take your pick from a variety of bongs, pipes and other smoking devices (not to mention the potent 'skunk' and hallucinagenic 'legal' mushrooms sold over the counter supposedly imported from Amsterdam, but full of perfectly healthy artificial chemicals instead). There are other looks out here but those two are probably the most eye catching.

Up the high street

The vibrancy in Camden is undeniable, the crib of Whinehouse and countless other carefree souls - I walked through 'Camden Lock' the other day, past all the food: Jamaican, Indian, Chinese and Moroccan stalls (that each had sneaky tasters to munch on along the way). Colourful motorbikes were lined up in rows and had been turned into seats and tables to eat at while gazing over the lazy canal. I stood on the edge of the bridge and leaned over the side for a breather, water always seems to have a calming effect. In yoga the belief is water cleanses your aura - and think about it, it makes sense. A shower first thing wakes you up, jolting your sleep-ridden aura with a flash of hot or cold and before bed, the stress of the day is cleansed aswell. There are specific times that it's believed one should 'bathe', and specific temperatures of water. For example, it's believed to be best to shower as the sun rises, in tune with your natural body cycle as our pineal gland responds to light cues and releases the hormone melatonin that naturally wakes us up and puts us to sleep in conjunction with various other hormones and glands. So a cold shower as the sun rises is most beneficial as it rejuvinates the cells and closes the pores, putting you in 'alert and awake' mode as opposed to starting the day feeling drowsy after a nice hot shower. To be fair, living in a cold country, where getting out of bed isn't the most exciting prospect, cold showers may not be the best idea, sending you into a state of hypothermia especially during the winter months. I've grown up swimming aswell and yes, it may feel the same with every sport, but after a good session in the pool your whole mind and body feels completely purified. It could have something to do with the fact that the colour of water (blue) corresponds with the colour of our third eye chakra located between the eyes that's responsible for your intuition and is the primary focus during meditation. Each chakra corresponds to a different colour, and by wearing/ surrounding yourself with that colour you serve to 'expand' if you will, the powers/ properties that the chakra holds. So a dip in the pool may do more thank you think! A lot of my friends think of 'chakra talk' as airy fairy, but this incredible youtube video called 'spirit science' will explain exactly what I mean in scientific terms, for all you logical left brained folk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLFlJSlD4YM)

Rastafari

But back to Camden:
One of my great girlfriends is in Barcelona at the moment having a crazy time in a crazy youth hostel that never sleeps - and a hot topic of conversation during these summer months, is flings/ romances, just boys in general. I've been given the same piece of advice numerous times on this topic 'go for someone at work', now let's go through the choices that my lovely Tapaz Bar has to offer - A coke head, bitter divorcee's with kids, or pervy Thai chefs. A strange combo or what? Let me fill in the gaps -
My boss is a wide eyed, bald headed, tall, fit and intimidating man who 'used' to have a huge coke addiction. There would literally be white mountains in the downstairs kitchen for a quick sniff 'inbetween-service breaks' resulting in a manic and highly confident restaurant owner. Due to his natural manic and wide eyed nature, none of the customers could tell, but the behind-the-bar gurning (jaw grinding) and the constant eye twitches were noticable enough. In his 40's he's not as 'addicted' per say and brushes it off as a fun few youthful years. But his coked-up nature means no one questions his unfair method of paying our wages (that is dependant on his sporadic mood swings - if he's happy, so are we, if he's not, the pay resembles what you'd find in a hobo's wallet. - but we get something, so we don't complain.) So there's the boss, and as it's a family run business, his nephew (depressed divorcee with 2 kids who lives above the restaurant and will probably still be there in 40 years time), sister (also from a broken family, but the loveliest of them all) and brother in law (one of the many pervy thai chefs) all work alongside him, and hate.his.guts. Literally, the moment he walks out of the room it turns into a full on bitch session with everyone chiming in and saying their part - it's quite entertaining to be honest. The moment he steps back in, it's all halo's and angel wings.

Another big blogger - 'the rock and roll Camden bride'

One of the waiters, who no one particularly warms to, (though I seem to have cracked his bitter shell and seen his soft side which isn't half-bad when he lifts out of his cold-hard comfort zone) has been working at the restaurant for the entire 30 years it's been open. Ironically he went to school with the boss, and was the wealthy kid who grew up in Chelsea, while boss-man grew up in the dodgy side of south London - didn't turn out to foreshadow their future professions. He's divorced from a drug addict who he hates with a passion, has 2 kids and works as a sandwich man, a chauffeur and a waiter all part time, and purely to earn money to survive - with no hint of love or passion for what he does whatsoever only adding to his bitter list of things to complain about (that we get to hear about every day, woop!)
And lastly the chef's, they're lovely really; it may just be my naivity, but they cook me amazing food and teach me Thai so I don't complain. It's when the comments like 'let me take a picture of you' and 'I love you' start rolling in that I become slightly more weary of what I'm getting into. There are 4 of us waitresses, I'm the baby of them all but we all get a long really well and have a laugh about the men we've landed ourselves with. Each of us have a secret admirer, J was chosen by the depressed divorcee/ nephew of the boss - all of us egg him on just for the fun of it. E was chosen by the cleaner from the Congo who's a Jahova's witness and constantly going on about his 'brothers and sisters' from the church and lecturing us on the dangers of alcohol and tobacco. L was chosen by the sweetest Thai chef Max, who doesn't speak a word of english but spends his days smiling away washing dishes and helping us with the laborious task of ice cream scooping. I've landed myself the head chef - quick life summary: Married to a  crazy Thai woman, has 2 kids, very good looking, gave up drinking and smoking but still a huge gambler - and cooks amazing food. If it wasn't for the family situation and the fact that he's 20 years older than me, he'd be up for consideration - but for now, getting great food and the odd compliment doesn't sit too badly - the pervy grins and comments are just something i'll have to deal with.

This is what customers see. Behind the scenes
is a whoole different ball game

Last Friday J and I had a double shift together (13.5 hours of running up and down stairs with plates of food and glasses), the running wasn't so bad, it was more dealing with the bosses constant drone and finicky requests, sharing the pain with someone definitely made it easier - what's nice about working with this bunch is we get offered copious amounts of amazing wine (wine education - what a bonus! Got my cocktail-party talk down), and since I only need half a glass to knock me out, my waitressing experiences have become slightly more exciting, and blurry. Given, I do get slightly clumsier (demonstrated by the various trays of glasses I've managed to drop as a result of tripping over my own feet...), but customers suddenly seem more interesting and the banter picks up. The Asian glow isn't a great look though - so I tend to stick outside in the garden, shaded inconspicuously by the overhanging trees. But anyway, on Friday we were given our usual glasses of wine, and were planning on going out for drinks after work anyway, so it seemed a perfect time for pre's - by the end of the shift I was talking nonsense and spinning around between the tables in circles, J was laughing at me uncontrollably, trying to polish wine glasses, the boss was downstairs in the walk-in, gurning like a machine, as was the bitter waiter S. What made the scene even more bizarre, was the bosses unsuspecting 16 year old nephew who was sitting like a cherub with all of us, cleaning the coffee machine, completely unaware of the intoxicated crowd surrounding him. The rest of the night followed suit and our heads entered into the blurry Friday night buzz of Camden - the morning-after-thumping that only I could hear, was not as pleasant.
I um'd and ah'd about mentioning my crazy workplace to my parents, expecting the defensive response of 'get out of there as soon as possible', but to my surprise, my mum replied with 'my ex-boss was a coke addict too!' And my dad gave me the seemingly obvious advice of 'don't accept any if you're offered, it will change the dynamic completely'. This 'being-treated-like-an-adult' thing is still something I'm getting used to, but the level of respect on the parent-child relationship scale has been bumped up a notch.

Our boss, to a T.

So that's my part-time life at the moment, i've let go of the reigns a little, and take waitressing in my stride instead of thinking of it as a strain just to get through.
My honey-soya chicken is sitting in the oven and the smell has dispersed into every corner of the room, i'm absolutely ravenous and can't wait for dinner. (Little side-note, lack of sleep decreases the amount of Leptin in your body - the hormone responsible for inhibiting your hunger drive - hence no sleep basically leads to uncontrollable munch - an experience I've found myself dealing with a bit too much as of late.) Mm, the timer just buzzed.


Recipe of the day: Baked soya, honey chicken with rice and salad 
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-asian-style-honey-chicken/

Through the looking glass

 It's always interesting having a few days of country living - with a slightly luxurious edge. On one hand it's fantastic being able to catch up with relatives, skimming over the years events and future plans over a delicious lunch. A few days ago I fed into the English spirit with a typical tea party, canope's of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, glazed sausages and salmon bites; just to add a touch of class we took our pick of Pimms, wine, rosé or elderflower cordial. All the ladies were in flowery dresses and hats - for when the sun decided to momentarily peep out. And the men all had their black suits and funky ties on, their shoes newly polished and looking rather suave. Unfortunately, my 11 cousins (all of whom are a range of ages, me being in the middle) somehow escaped having to socialize and make small talk with mysterious adults all afternoon. So i pranced around looking jolly and entertaining the old folk. At first I dreaded the thought - and found myself repeating the same lackadaisical words to the first few people I spoke to, with a smile of course. But I decided I didn't particularly want to waste my time not making an effort - and I began speaking to one lady who was about 75 years old, called Linda.

1930 - Frida Kahlo 

1940 - Lennon

Linda indirectly opened my eyes to my ignorance towards 'the elders'. Our family calender hangs by the side of the fridge, on which we have a scheduled date every year to see the rellies, somehow it always feels like a slightly laborious task, especially when you're younger. The traditional view towards children was that they should be 'seen and not heard', correct table manners were always expected, and a sweet smile in return for a sugary pudding. Then it was off to bed early while the adults had their 'time' mingling downstairs. Growing up is a funny thing; one of the major facets that makes me feel 'adult' is when others treat you like one, when the intellect within conversations is that much higher, when you're responsible for slightly more than not losing your lunch money, and when adults talk to you with purpose instead of condescendingly patting you on the head. But seeing grandparents, who will always view you as their little grandchild, somehow takes away from the ability to truly learn who they are. Or perhaps it's just laziness on my part in not trying to really find out about their intriguing past.

1950 - Munroe

1960 - Hurston

What fascinates me, is that these people have lived such long lives, to think of the experience I feel I've had in only 18 years is already eye opening. But multiply that by 4 and your perspective widens considerably. Oh the stories Linda began to tell me, none of which made me yawn. The incredible people she'd met, and places she'd lived, her casual reference to historical events like World War 2 and what she'd been doing during that time. It was funny hearing first hand accounts about events that I'd learnt about at school and in textbooks. The swinging 60's and flower-power 70's - I heard about it all; as the Pimms and wine continued to flow, everyone's voices became slightly louder, and their stories raunchier. Being a wallflower was the best role to have played in that scenario.

1970 - Presley

1980 - Jackson

In a series I used to follow, 'One Giant Leap' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gla2IgD52eU) that features two guys who travel around the world interviewing the most fascinating people on all of the most 'deep and meaningful' subjects that exist today: Love, death, age, sex, music etc. and inbetween the interesting speeches there's an eclectic combination of music from various cultures, all synthesized into one amazing tune. Portuguese singers over Indian drummers alongside a melodic tune on a korean flute with some brilliant American guitarist - you get the picture. But one of the episodes on 'age' interviews a lot of older people; you journey through their take on getting old, and the changes that occur around them as a result. I remember one lady talking about how she couldn't look at herself in the mirror because she couldn't accept her 'ugly' wrinkles, while another was full of acceptance and viewed ageing as a sign of beauty. A discussion took place regarding people's reactions and attitudes towards them, how they're suddenly 'outcast' in society and placed in various homes to make others lives easier. (Hobbes's theory on how humans are ultimately selfish creatures and do everything for their own personal gain rings true in this case). The only people they can really relate to or talk to without being spoken to in a fairly condescending manner, or looked at sympathetically are other people of their age. At lunch today someone mentioned their best friend having passed away earlier that week, and though there was sadness in their eyes, they stated the fact with ease, as it had almost become normal to hear that another of their friends had gone. Can you
imagine that? Everyone dropping like flies and not knowing when your turn will be..

1990 - Dhal

2000 - Swayze

One of the biggest concepts I struggle with is imagining my grandparents in their youth, as the image I see them as is 'sweet old grandma who cooks amazing food and grandpa who dosses and reads the newspaper'. I'd never picture them clubbing, getting completely smashed or dancing stark naked on bars in feather boas - but today, I learnt, their youth was far wilder than many people's I know today. It's not too hard to imagine considering they grew up in a world of psychedelic music accompanied by abundant hallucinogenics.

2010 - Obama

This is the peak of my youth, of many of ours, but to think about the drastic changes that occur as we age, slotting us into different roles. We're confronted with examples of old age that people almost conform to as they reach it, the clothes, the lifestyle, the house. But hearing stories and experiences of the years that led up to it, from such an open and interesting perspective, really gets the mind going - let's just hope the rumours concerning the colossal damage that will 'wipe out'  the human race in 2012, doesn't happen, so we can experience whatever lies beyond this peak.







 Recipe of the day: Pesto chicken with roasted tomato's 
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10416/creamy-pesto-chicken-with-roasted-tomatoes

Focus

Just thought I'd begin with a little interesting fact I picked up on the radio the other day. I've always heard that females are better at multi-tasking than males, but never really understood why - especially when I didn't really fit into that stereotype. My attempts at multi-tasking generally end in a breakdown. But it turns out there's a scientific explanation - women have a thicker corpus callosum than men (the part of the brain that separates the two hemispheres) hence we have a larger mass of nerves and receptors within that area and can more easily switch between different areas/functions of the brain, giving us the increased ability to switch concentration between tasks. Yet it strikes me as rather odd that they were discussing this, when in actual fact multi-tasking isn't really possible. So google defines multi-tasking as "The handling of more than one task at the same time by a single person" So I suppose it is possible -but my point is it doesn't allow for a good and complete execution of those tasks. 

How it's changed

As we only have one brain, we can only focus 100% of our attention on one task at a time - multi-tasking therefore should be cast in a negative light as it infers that we're half-heartedly doing various tasks instead of doing your best at one. But isn't that what society's slightly turned into? The ability to do everything all at once while living a fast paced existence, as we attempt to conserve as much time as possible to doing more more more... Isn't that what so many of us subconsciously strive for? One of the things that I used to get upset about was catching up with friends while they simultaneously stared transfixed at their phone screens. Having a conversation and being brushed aside mid-way as a far more important matter on their phone came up that they had to attend to immediately. I remember sitting in the canteen at lunch time, I sat on the table that was constantly engaged in heated arguments and debates over social or political issues. Generally revolving around the legalization of marijuana or another taboo subject. But there were some tables on which 5 - 7 people would sit (predominantly girls) with their heads all bent over as they 'multi-tasked' - picking food up with their left hand, and tapping tweeting/emailing/facebooking/texting with their right hand. It was so funny to me, because when we all got home, my newsfeed would fill up with  news about those same people writing or posting things to each other - so who were they writing to at lunch?! I still don't understand the desire to constantly live in a virtual world when so much is going on around you.

I'm not going to lie, I can see myself doing it sometimes; my granny was talking about how rude mobiles were the other day, especially at mealtimes - how they completely destroyed the social dynamic - and I couldn't disagree. Looking around me in the fish and chip restaurant, I'd say at least half of the people in there were tapping away at their phones, while the other half were trying to control their screaming children. My phone was placed on the table next to me, as was dads - ready to grab at the slightest buzz. The need to be constantly connected and talking to others without focusing all of your efforts on engaging in the situation you're presently in. We can't really be blamed though, seeing as we're constantly being offered various mediums to do this through - Facebook, phones, emails, skype - yes this is the generation that we are. We're in the age of technology, but can people really be surprised at the increased cases of ADD when we're being taught to focus our attention on a million things at once?

Jeanloup Sieff

On the subject of straying attention, 'woman's hour' can faintly be heard playing on the radio. They're discussing the subject of monogamy. Staying with one person for your whole life - what a task! The divorce rates have never been higher, and the average age of marriage is also increasing with time as people begin to feed into more 'alternative' ways, 'commitment ceremonies', not putting a label on it, all that non-permanent jazz. A lot of it I think is psychological, I know I'm only 18 but I can still infer. Putting label's on relationships and suddenly having to live up to all of these 'rules' and 'expectations' freakspeople out. I studied a sect of psychology called 'human relationships' and one of the most interesting things I looked into was the satisfaction curve. As couples start out, the honeymoon phase occurs and satisfaction rates are obviously high due to the lust and passion etc. (these 'rates' are measured in terms of happiness levels for different criteria, feeling appreciated, whether routine questions like 'how was your day' are still asked, engaging in sexual activity ladidadida. The studies occured cross-culturally with both men and women of different ages, all of whom were in relationships) but as time went on, the rates of satisfaction went down - a lot of people refer to this stage as 'reality' but I don't really like that idea. Reality doesn't have to lack satisfaction it just has to be handled right, whatever that means. But as couples reached the 20/ 30 year mark of being together, the rates rose again to where they were at the beginning. So happy ending's do exist in the world of data and statistics. It's just a question of whether couples can actually hack it out for that long to reach that the ecstasy they'd once felt.

The reality?

On the radio, the main theme was surprisingly infidelity in relationships - and the focus was more on the positive aspects of it. How it brings couples closer and allows for that adrenaline rush that gets lost over time. I wondered whether that's what we were all moving towards.. open relationships? I still don't really see how someone can be totally attached and want to stray without feeling a sense of betrayal or hurt. Being someone who has cheated before - I understand how and why it can happen, I think most people do. I don't regret a thing because it taught me a lot in the long run - about myself, the relationship I was in and what I needed at the time (a taste of single-dome). And I know it may seem hypocritical, but I still don't really believe in, or like the concept of cheating, if everything's supposed to revolve around trust and honesty - how exactly does cheating fit in? I know I still have a lot to learn - but at the rate we're going now, I'm not neccesarily looking forward to learning from experience, movies and books are good enough.

Lackadaisical

There's an organization called the Honey Trap, that a lot of women, and men use. It's basically hiring a woman or man to hit on/ attempt to seduce your significant other. And what did the stats show? 99% of men fell for it. I think the statistics with women were below 80% - 'great' news there. Then again, to be a relativist, if you're going behind their back to hire someone to seduce them you're not exactly setting yourself up for a good scenario - as well as revealing a few trust issues. It's interesting to see who's attention span lasts longer, yours or your partners. Watching how all the extraneous variables come into play.
Time for an over-done, predictable hollywood rom-com for a taste of fantasy! Followed by lamb chops and new potatoes for dins, I got a little over-excited earlier picking raspberries so we have a bucket to get through for pudding with a bit of cream, omnomnom.



 Recipe of the day: Lamb chops (serve with mint sauce and new potatoes) 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/lamb_chop

Close your eyes - what can you see?

Fairy footprints

I sit in the loud silence of the evening. Some may recognize that saying as a paradox but it is no such thing. Having lived in tropical countries most of my life - I've been lulled to sleep by the spinning of fan blades, the buzz of mosquitoes (not the most pleasant sound) or the distant rush and beeps of cars. But here, isolated from civilization and surrounded by water that almost insulates us from sound waves - one can tune into the universal hum of silence. When I was younger I would put my ear to the pillow and hear the sound almost escalating. My imagination would go wild - I could see a whole world of tiny people, (similar to those in 'Horton hears a Who' by Doctor Seuss), the sound emanating from the minute golden foghorns that one could only faintly detect.

It's funny how the concept of imagination is generally associated with children. The idea that as we get older and more wrapped up in our physical worlds, our imagination loses priority. A large part of that does have to do with time. As kids we're free from the list of responsibilities that accompany adults. We have the time and space to roam, and our minds aren't subject to so much influence that's thrust upon us as we grow up. Newspapers, TV, just media in general, then there are books, events, people. Up until the age of about 12 I wouldn't watch the news out of fear. It was like watching a real life horror story, the confrontation with reality was too gory and brutal. But you get eased into it, the death of hundreds of people due to car bombs or warfare begins to seem more normal. Of course empathy remains but as I've said before, when you routinely see the same kind of things on the news, it brings with it a strong sense of normality.

Call me a flower child

When we lived in Sri Lanka during the last few years of the Civil War, I'd receive emails from friends in other countries asking if I was alive after a recent bombing - And that was normal. The news made it look so much more terrifying than the bubble us expats were living in; surrounded by constant parties, beaches and a lot of security guards. Actually there was one day that I remember quite clearly. We were 14- 15 years old, a group of friends and I. We'd bought tickets to a concert that had a few local well known expat bands that had won various music competitions - so you can imagine how excited we were. Everyone was wearing their 'Icarus' shirts and the buzz was getting bigger as the concert went on. 30 minutes into the show, the announcer comes up on stage with the microphone announcing "Hi everyone.. uhm.. there's currently an air raid occurring and the government's instructed for all lights and electricity to be switched off in Colombo to confuse the terrorists". Everyone nervously laughed at the 'joke' that he'd come up with to kick off the intermission. The lights all went out and I looked out the window in the Foyer.. I could see little bright lights shooting into the sky "Fireworks!" I was so excited - someone else screamed back "They're bullets!" Within seconds, thousands of teenagers in Icarus shirts were running into one another tapping furiously at their phones. The phone signal was totally gone and the doors had been padlocked by the guards to ensure none of us were hit outside the building. Everyone clustered together, the heat rose and sweat appeared on everyone's panic-stricken faces. "I love you if this is it", I heard that over and over again. It seemed so unreal, we heard about this on the News! We didn't experience this! It all turned out to be OK, the Tamil Tiger Planes were shot down by the Sinhalese army and the doors were eventually unlocked. Needless to say the concert did not go on, but our lives did.

Red poppy riding solo

Distinguish the grey horizon

So to link these slightly shocking stories to my main point. Imagination is almost 'lessened' because so much of what one would imagine via watching video or computer games, happens in real life so less is left for the imagination to conjure up. Some people do choose to spend their time indulging in their imaginations instead of falling victim to reality. Artists tune into their creative streams and focus them into more mature creations like sculptures, clothes, movies etc. But artists only make up a small percent of the population so what does that say about the rest of us? Imagine if the people that created our surroundings had wild imaginations like Dr. Seuss - our houses would be lop-sided and bright purple, Willy Wonker would have created chocolate rivers and bubble-gum trees, and Yayoi Kusama would have polka dots splattered all over the place.

Monopoly

Back on the road at last

Scone prep.

My brother and I discussed this on our walk today - to our left was the windy sea, due to the overcast, dismal day it reflected the grey sky; sea and sky blended together, separated by merely a line of dark grey horizon. To my right a royal contrast, golden fields of wheat blew in the breeze that created gentle waves of kernels at its surface.
Dad was walking slower to accompany my granny, and my brother and I walked on ahead. The discussion began with the effect video games have on the mind - his argument was there are far more pro's than cons and mine was vice versa. He claims that it aids his imagination, I asked "with violence?" And he began telling me of all the things he saw happening around him at that moment. I chimed in and added my usual whimsical fantasies of fairies and elves running between the straws of wheat. His fantasies always seem to resemble scenes from Lord of The Rings - a slight obsession to put it lightly.

Fresh scones baby!

All fantastical thought was paused as we ran into various forks in the path and had to zone back in while he figured out where we were going. The day dragged on, Smoked Haddock and salad for lunch followed by a big game of monopoly. Board games have to make an appearance on drizzly days. After my 12 year old brother had successfully made us all bankrupt with his ridiculous money-making tactics, I set about making fresh scones. I had the house to myself for a few hours as the others were off 'prawning' in the boat. I stood outside in the brightening sky and inhaled on a familiar friend.. The rest of the day has been slow and light. The scones were delicious with blackberries, clotted cream and jam (with tea of course) and the sausage pie for dinner filled us to the brim.
Time to close my eyes and switch on the imagination button for a few hours.


 Recipe of the day: Sausage pie (Any pastry can be used)
http://www.jusrol.co.uk/recipe.aspx?RecipeId=141