Day 4 Part 1 Richard's Walk: Place 14 Camden Passage

"Richard crossed the road...The day was cold and bright, which he liked. He walked across the top of Islington Green, where winos get beaten up, past the site of the old Collins Music Hall which had got burned down, and through Camden Passage where American tourists get ripped off."

Here I am in Camden Passage, Islington Green behind me.

Below is the shop Mark and I went into, and yes, probably got ripped off in, but the store is called "Smug." How could we NOT buy a hilarious tea towel with an adorable critter on it? Also let's all make an effort to go back to the 1588 usage of this word, shall we?

We stopped in at the chocolatiers with Mark picking out several kinds of truffles, brownie bites covered in chocolate with red glitter on them, and dairy free hot chocolate: literally melted chocolate in a cup. The chocolatier asked Mark whether he wanted any additional spices in his chocolate. In true Mark form he said, "Yes!"

"To which?"

"Everything except the cardamom." 

I definitely remember that he got cinnamon, a spicy pepper, and...three other spices that I don't recall. He found it veeeery tasty, but I could only handle one teensy tinsy small sip.  Much too rich for me.

A bit further down the passage we looked at all of the fun antiques. A lovely French woman would not take no for an answer, and forced us to allow her to take our photograph. 

Then I needed tea, so we sat and rested a little in the beautiful Camden Head to fortify us for a long walk in the footsteps of Dirk Gently, searching for cigarettes in the middle of the night.

Day 3 Part 6 Place 13: A Very Good Party

We have had some weird weather in London. Mostly good weird; super sunny days, but Day 3 had debateable weather...no one knew what to call it. As David walked us around Islington, we experienced what was alternately called hail, sleet, and snow. Check out the video and let me know what you think this weather was:

http://youtu.be/31W3j4mPVKs

When we arrived at Place 13, the Islington flat where Arthur met Trillian, David told us that the last time he had given a tour, there was a party going on at the flat.  The ZZ9 Plural Z Alphas standing around outside of the flat seemed perfectly normal as partygoers went in and out.

The day we were there, a woman was looking out at us through the window.  She stood there and looked out at us for a very long time as we looked in at her, having a good laugh.

"The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says that if you hold a lungful of air you can survive in the total vacuum of space for about thirty seconds. However, it does go on to say that what with space being the mind- boggling size it is the chances of getting picked up by another ship within those thirty seconds are two to the power of two hundred and seventy- six thousand, seven hundred and nine to one against. 

By a totally staggering coincidence, that is also the telephone number of an Islington flat where Arthur once went to a very good party and met a very nice girl whom he totally failed to get off with— she went off with a gate-crasher."

Day 3 Part 4 Places 8, 9, & 10: Islington Green, Pizza & Towels

Islington green is mentioned often in Douglas Adams' books. Richard walks past there, Dirk passes through there, Fenchurch practically lives there; The reality is that Adams worked and lived *right there* and like many authors, he wrote about the places he saw every day. I assume places that he loved - unless he wrote about them as "horrible caves." Even so, one can return, triumphant, from a horrible cave of a place, find love, and perhaps learn to fly. I'm just saying.

Regardless, it seems clear that Adams had a very intimate knowledge of the places in and around Angel Underground station, Islington. Just like Dirk, he probably ordered from Pizza Express, which has been in its Upper Street location for more than 30 years, according to our pizza server.

 

"If you wish to know more I will be at the Pizza Express in Upper Street in ten minutes. Bring some money.” 

“Dirk?” exclaimed Richard. “You . . . Are you trying to blackmail me?” 

“No, you fool, for the pizzas.” There was a click and Dirk Gently rang off."

And which serves a very nice cider with blackberry juice!

Nearby, I found a Marks and Spencer, where I hoped to buy a stripey towel not all together unlike the one that Ford Prefect carried in the bottom of his satchel. With one modification: there is a size of towel which is not commonly sold in the US. In England, it is apparently what is known as a "hand towel." And what Americans call a hand towel, is in England known as a "guest towel." 

English hand towels are an ideal size for women with long-ish hair to use as a mini turban for winding up wet heads. American hand towels are far too small for this, and American bath towels are far too large for this. I knew this size towel existed because my parents linen closet used to have a few. Once we arrived at our Islington flat, imagine my excitement when I realized that the "hand" towels here were the exact, correct, size for hair turbaning!

Instead of the largish bath towel that The Guide recommends for hitchhiking the galaxy, I decided that I would acquire two perfect sized hair towels for Casa de Bessey. 

Day 3 Part 3 Place 5: David's Islington Tour

On Day 3, Mark, Martin (fan and friend of David's), and I were lucky enough to be taken on an extensive tour of Douglas Adams' Islington by David Haddock, past president of the ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha Fan Club. David knows the addresses of most of the flats where Douglas lived and worked during the years between leaving Cambridge and his death. David can tell you about where the author was when collaborating with Graham Chapman, then on the radio series, Hitchhikers, and Dr. Who. David collects memorabilia, costumes and trivia. David is a Hoopy Frood and I'm so grateful for his generous time, and the fact that he walked for several hours on a damaged foot!

David does the walk "Just for fun," and it IS fun! He knows the names of the real life characters who worked with Douglas at various times; and those who contributed to making Hitchhikers Guide happen, even if it was only by letting DNA sleep on their couch. 

The image above is the Estate Agent office Hotblack Desiato, which has been in the same location since DNA came to Islington and was inspired to use the name for a Rock Star spending a year deceased for tax purposes. Again, this doesn't 'count' as a place, by my counting, because it is the real world, and even if he needed a flat, Desiato would send a flunky - he wouldn't be caught dead in a place like that. 

We saw the Georgian row house still owned by the Adams family, plus front and back of the bank that would not allow DNA to use their parking lot for bulldozer access to his backyard. No pool for the Adams family. Ah, the wacky English architecture.

Since my 42 places are based solidly in the fiction of what Douglas Adams wrote, many of the places that David showed us are just part of this blog's "bonus track." Special bonus features even beyond the promised 42 places in 42 days. And, because of the Neil Gaiman lecture, the bonus track is, in this case, going to come before much of the actual first or second sides of the LP.

We *DID* however get to go and see, in person, one of the places on my list: in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, A. K. Ross is murdered by Michael Wenton Weakes in his house in Noel Road. We went to Noel Road, and although the number of the location of Ross' demise is never mentioned, David said he likes to think the house number was 42.

Day 3 Part 2 Places 6 & 7: Caves and Flying

This somewhat dingy alleyway is actually the site of two of my very favorite moments in all of the Douglas Adams novels.

The first thing that makes this location so special is that Arthur Dent, in despair over having lost Fenchurch's phone number, decides he will try to find the cave he lived in on prehistoric Earth. He buys an Apple computer, makes a ton of gueses, and knocks on the resulting door, seemingly at random. It turns out to be Fenchurch's of course.

Later, Arthur figures out that what is "wrong" with Fenchurch is that she doesn't walk - or indeed even touch the ground - and in response, Arthur shows her how he learned to fly. Some extremely silly, sexy flying scenes ensue. 

David Haddock explained on our tour that Douglas Adams used one or the other...maybe both...of these buildings as an office when he was working. 

Here's some video and a passage from the books:

http://youtu.be/OlSpiGYOFgI