Intrōdūcō

Ah, London. The world's market. Fruit, vegetables, clothing, antiques, toiletries, meat, paintings, books, etc. If there's value in something, London has a market for it.

Lauren and I wanted to see London. We wanted to hear London. We wanted to breathe London. Eat London. Drink London. Smell London. And that's why we did this. Six London markets in six hours on a Saturday afternoon. We had less than a month left in the city and didn't want it to go to waste. What better way to experience this place than to roam the streets and markets?

There were difficulties: tube closures, cold weather, market merchants who didn't want us taking photos. But we dealt with these problems in various ways, mainly by amending the day's itinerary.

When we left Kensington at 9:30 AM, we intended to visit the following six markets:

Portobello
Church Street
Camden
South Bank Book Market
Borough
Brixton

By 3:30 PM, as we rounded together outside the Brixton tube station, tired, damp, but victorious, we had visited the following:

Notting Hill Gate Farmers' Market
Portobello
Church Street
South Bank Christmas Market
South Bank Book Market
Borough
Brixton

So, technically speaking, Lauren and I visited seven in six hours. Having simply walked through the Christmas Market, we'll mention it briefly. But the rest will be examined at some length. We'll try to focus on the market experience, but it is our wont to digress from time to time.

Before we begin our account of this wonderful journey, I feel we must introduce ourselves. I am Kevin. I will be your narrator. This whole shebang was the wine squeezed from my mind-grapes, so to speak. Lauren's a close friend, and a hell of a photographer and navigator. She's also good at keeping my emotions in check when I get a bit ornery, so I enlisted her as my partner. And even though I'm writing this myself, I'll stick to the so-called 'we' form, as this was a team effort start to finish.

So there. Let us begin.