Sunday, April 17/2016

Wake up to the Shanghai Grand Prix on BBC Radio5. Once upon a time it would also have been on tv, but that is getting increasingly difficult without pay channels. Somewhat like boxing. Previously BBC alternated with Sky in tv race coverage, but it has given up its contract before it expired, so now we can rely on Channel 4, for about every second race. No way to acquire a new generation of fans, but there it is. Pretty chilly out.

 To Camden Town in the afternoon. It too is changing. The fruit and veg market that was on Inverness Street is gone, of course. There's an interesting division. Come out of the Camden Town Tube station and turn right and you are in the middle of Camden market - all youth, counter culture, live music, tattoos, incense, t-shirts, piercings. Turn right and you're in the world of small supermarkets, charity shops, fast food restaurants, hardware shops, mobile phone unlocking services, and pound stores. The people at this end of the high street are local - careful shoppers trailing kids or stopping at a pub. A Lidl store here, with queues showing how it and Aldi are running competition to the traditional supermarkets, though this one is neither as big nor as busy as the Kilburn Aldi.