Jul 12, 1:40 pm
Last week my teacher training course whisked me off to stay in UCL accommodation in Camden for a week. Now I am sure many of you have been to there but I had never witnessed the wonder that is Camden before. What a feast for the eyes, so much of the weird and the wonderful crammed together in some sort of strange street market atmosphere. Most of the shops at first glance appeared to be selling counterfeit watches and cheep belts, but scratch the surface and there was so much more.
Now maybe I am just high on all the MSG I have consumed with each evenings meal of £2 noodles from Camden market, or maybe it is the filthy London air getting to me but one night sitting on my Uni accommodation bed (not the most welcoming of things) whilst playing Animal Crossing, I realised that Camden and my AC town of Sarville were not so different from one another. Let me explain.
In the real world:
Sarin leaves her room to find a note saying there is mail awaiting her. She goes out and opens her mail box to find a card from a friend. After reading the card she heads out into Camden. Here she is confronted by all sorts of people with the most interesting array of hair styles known to man (One woman even had springs instead of hair… springs I tell you!). As she walks along the music changes due to the shops blasting their own version of dance onto the street, giving each moment it’s own little theme tune. Shop vendors call out trying to get her to buy all manner of things ranging from boots to bags, and noodles to candles. Sarin doesn’t really want any of these things but yet she has to look in each place to make sure a bargain is not missed.
At the end of the day Sarin goes back to her home to rest and wait for the next day.
A regular day in Animal Crossing
In Animal Crossing:
Sarin leaves her house to the small blue flash of new mail. Upon opening the mail box she sees it is a letter from one of her friends, and stores it in her pocket. Sarin then ventures out into the realms of Sarville. Here she is confronted with an array of villagers each more weird and wonderful then the next (a penguin turned up recently, I mean who ever heard of a talking penguin??!). As the day progresses in Sarville the gentle background music changes keeping Sarin amused. She always ends up at Tom Nooks shop and although she need nothing still spends a good few minutes checking out today’s selection of wallpapers.
At the end of the day Sarin goes back to her home to rest and wait for the next day.
Camden, London NW1
So there you go. I have just spent a week in Sarville. I must say the tube is pretty nasty there, useful to get around but does it really have to be that hot and sticky?? And some of the people are not too friendly at all. I must complain to Nintendo before I have to use the service again!
I am now safely back in Teacher Training world so no more noodles for me….. Now where did I put that Pac Man disk??
