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Old 6th December 2008, 01:21   #1
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A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008

March 2008 was arguably the worst month of my life. But, it had started out with the promise of being probably the best!! I was travelling with a couple of of my colleagues to London for a month. We had been to the UK a couple of times before and knew our way around, so there was none of the settling down period. We had 4 weekends to roam around (with one of them being a 4 day weekend). to top it all, since our visit coincided with the London office's yearly offsite we were also booked in, for an all expenses paid weekend in Paris on the last weekend of March. for the other weekends we had planned one in Amsterdam and the long one in Spain, a driving holiday from Barcelona to Alicante!!! so you could imagine why I actually looked forward even to the painful 8 hour flight to Heathrow.

Some say, if something could go wrong, it would, at the most inopportune time, and in the worst possible manner. Unfortunately this was to be the month I found out that they were, well, absolutely correct. In the first weekend itself I left my backpack while getting off a train. I am very careless by nature, which is the reason that I carry with me, a backpack all the time even if the only thing it contains is a pen. I could lose a pen but surely not my beloved backpack. But lose it I did. only this time it was not only a pen that was in it, I lost underpants, tooth brush, deos, clothes, keys, 5 sets of contact lens, a tripod, an expensive underwater camera housing that i had recently purchased, a large amount of money and my PASSPORT!!!

I was devastated. what a catastrophic loss. what a monumental moron i was. all my plans lay in ruins. all my efforts to find my backpack, all the lost baggage reporting, all assurances that I would surely find my backpack, all in vain. I was only left with a massive credit card bill owing to those non refundable "budget" Easyjet flight tickets to mainland Europe. To add to my miseries was the lethargic, inefficient and chaotic Indian Embassy. while I stood in a mile long queues at 6 in the morning, getting soaked in ice cold drizzle, hoping to make it to the counter before they run out of tokens, my mates were frolicking in the Red Light Discrict of Amsterdam (the real DAM).

I did finally manage to get the dulicate Passport in the last week of March. That weekend when my mates were in Paris I had an entire weekend to myself, all alone. And not surprisingly, it rained the entire Saturday. Just as I was about to turn into an atheist, the Gods finally smiled on me and presented me with a brilliant sunny Sunday. But after the battering I got all the month all I wanted to do was to go home. I was actually not sure what I wanted to do that day. I had seen all the standard touristy placed in London on previous visits and was in no mood to revisit them. One thing that I had not seen yet, however, was the weekend markets around London. The closest one was the Covent Market. As i started my day, i wondered, how good could it be?

The following pictures illustrate my day at the Covent Garden Market..
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Old 6th December 2008, 01:25   #2
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Tough luck man... My friend's bag was lifted in Leicester square and he too lost his passport, camera and a whole lot of stuff.

Hey where are the fotos.
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Old 6th December 2008, 01:33   #3
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This was the first thing I saw when i got out of the tube station. I had no clue what this fella was upto. this act was the first that i saw when i entered the market. not the best of starts

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4453.jpg

Entrance to the market complex

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4458.jpg

This elderly chinese gentleman was playing the "sheng" based on which, he claimed, the church organ was later developed!!! does look like a miniature organ actually

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4461.jpg

more details on the Sheng

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4462.jpg

the mighty baloon swallower!!!

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4463.jpg

going

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4464.jpg

gone

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4466.jpg

absolutely proud of what he has done

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4469.jpg

inside the market

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4471.jpg

one of the stalls inside

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4472.jpg
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Old 6th December 2008, 01:37   #4
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I still thank God that I did not lose my camera that day. I would then have no option left but to bid farewell to this cruel world!!

Last edited by Locomotive : 6th December 2008 at 01:48.
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Old 6th December 2008, 01:46   #5
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more stalls. everythingvery neatly arranged and very colourful

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4473.jpg

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4474.jpg

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4475.jpg

could'nt resist a photograph of the candles Beautiful.

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4477.jpg

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4480.jpg

the best performance of the day was by this group of classical players. brilliant music. heard the entire show and loved every bit of it. throughly entertaining. Made my day.

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4498.jpg

Fantasic bassist and the joker of the group

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4492.jpg

the singer and he cello player. there was no mike around and yet her voice could be heard throughout the market, crystal clear. unbelievable voice.

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4499.jpg

the leader of the group. quite a livewire

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4506.jpg


A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4508.jpg
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Old 6th December 2008, 01:53   #6
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adding a bit of comedy to their performance as they try to 'extort' money from one of the front row audience

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4530.jpg

people watch on amused

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4531.jpg

what a way to spend the afternoon

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4540.jpg

playing to a packed house

A day at the Covent Garden Market, London, March 2008-img_4541.jpg
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Old 6th December 2008, 01:55   #7
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I will post more pics tomorrow.
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Old 6th December 2008, 07:19   #8
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Fantastic, keep them coming. Captured the mood very well. Very lively and candid shots.
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Old 6th December 2008, 08:11   #9
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Very nice set of pictures.
I went there in the evening and without any camera.
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Old 6th December 2008, 08:25   #10
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excellent pictures. liked the candles and lady picture. is covent garden in coventry?
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Old 6th December 2008, 08:37   #11
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Nice pics, did you take video of that classical music?
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Old 6th December 2008, 08:46   #12
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@locomotive: nice thread. brought back memories for me of this central london area. absolutely fantastic. I lived in central london for ~3 years and covent garden was a favorite place to hang out over weekends. It's a very great 'carnival' kind of atmosphere out there.

Looking forward to rest of your post.
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Old 6th December 2008, 09:08   #13
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Thanks Saurav, Rudra Sir, Kutlee, Finney and Sultan. Glad you liked them.

@Kutlee - the nearest tube station is the Covent Garden. you come out of the station and walk right into the market. And yes that candle pic is one of my favourites.

@Finneyp - I did not have a video cam. Not much of a video person really. But they played magnificantly.

@Khan_Sultan - It was indeed a fantastic carnival like atmosphere. So much better than what i expected.
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Old 6th December 2008, 11:35   #14
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I went there on a rainy night - and almost none were there :( but yeah, nice place to spend a solitary weekend
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Old 6th December 2008, 14:10   #15
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Locomotive,

Great story of a different kind and alive... pictures clang the mood home...... keep posting and tnx for sharing.

--Ramky
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