Ephemera

I've been fairly good about keeping my camera with me at all times and whipping it out (heh heh heh) at opportune moments, keeping me travels well documented even if I don't have the ability to post them all up here. Yesterday, however, I left my camera at Kathryn's when I went to the hostel so as to limit its chances of falling victim to the pickpockets in this town. While wandering 'round today, I've of course stumbled across a few things I would have liked to capture (like the beautifully unfriendly theatre book shop reminiscent of Black Books), but not having my camera I'm appreciating once more that there are certain things that will have to be just for me.

The ability to snap photos at any time (especially with the advent of the digital camera) has left us with the vague sense that we don't have to appreciate things in the moment, because we can document it and savor it later, for as long as we like, on our own time. I'm one of the guiltiest people I know when it comes to this, having promised to take lots of pictures for my friends to know exactly what I'm talking about when I describe things on this dumb blog. But when I was doing this traveling thing in the summer of 2004, I didn't take any pictures when in the courtyard at the Louvre, recognizing that there are certain things the beauty of which a camera just can't do justice.

Today there were two things that, though I would like to share them, will really just be for me, and that is both okay and kind of delightful, even. But I'll attempt to describe them, just in case you want to imagine it.

I walked around the Leicester Square/Covent Garden area this morning before most shops were open. As I walked past a shop whose name I failed to note and that I'll never for the life of me be able to find again, there was a little note taped to the front door that read:

Julie -
We won't be needing any milk today.
Thanks, S-

Then in the window of a stamp and collectibles shop later in the afternoon, I saw a set of mounted Ninja Turtles cards on display. Only they were captioned as "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles." I found this both blasphemous and wonderful.

I hope you will too, though I guess the point of this post is it doesn't really matter if you do or not.