Just as I suspected...

On Saturday I spent an enjoyable day with my good friend Paul in Camden Town. On a mission to find a biker jacket for him, we hit the various stalls, shops and in between stalls-and-shops type places that make up glorious Camden market. It was great to be there with someone who doesn't live in London but in the countryside, so found the crowds refreshing rather than annoying. It reminded what a fantastic place London can be.

Being men we managed to find a jacket for Paul within an hour and a half, despite the first shops having only tiny ones. It was very amusing watching Paul try these on as he is a big fella (not fat, just big), it was like watching a normal sized man trying to put on Action Man's leather jacket. Paul did find it very strange that all the jackets were small, but as I reminded him people were smaller in the olden days, you only have to look at those tiny suits of amour in country houses to know that. I'm guessing it was the introduction of growth hormones to food that have made our generation one of giants.

Anyway, after a nice tea by the canal we decided to retire to a pub and watch the world go by accompanied with a pint or two. Sitting in a mildly trendy (though full of tourists and shoppers) pub we discussed the important issues of the day, most of which revolved around Batman in some way. After about half an hour two relatively attractive ladies sat opposite us. We paid them no heed, being both taken by Salisbury women.

About 10 minutes later I popped to the loo, and when I came back I found to two ladies talking to Paul. While I had been away Paul and started to read that week's issue of 2000 AD (a comic for those who don't know). The ladies had noticed this and had actually started to laugh at him and take the piss.

Now I thought this sort of thing only happened in bad sitcoms or films, where the attractive cheerleaders would mock the nerds while jocks stand around laughing, but here it was, happening in Camden Town. Just without the jocks. And the women weren't cheerleaders and only mildly attractive. And Paul and me aren't nerds. Geeks maybe, but not nerds (no, I don't know the difference). All my worst nightmares have come true! Nooooooo!

We laughed along with them but didn't try and pretend we're less nerdy than we were. Funny thing is I think they spoke to us because they found Paul attractive (I think I was the ugly mate getting in the way, even though I wasn't even reading the comic). They were impressed that he was a Primary school teacher and probably that despite reading comics we could comfortably talk to women. We ended up chatting to them for a bit before they went off to shop lift.

Yes, shop lift. They also explained they had met in a mental hospital. For a second I thought they were joking, then I noticed the marks on one of the ladies arms, and remembered that when they first sat down one suddenly burst into tears, then seconds later started laughing.

So what's the moral of this tale? The lessons we should learn?
1. Paul is a giant man and apparently attractive despite 2000 AD.
2. Camden Town still holds on to its place as number one area for loonies.
3. Only crazy girls don't like nerds.