A Visit to London (Ontario)

We were in London for an event for Caleb, and I was totally unprepared for how excellent a visit it would be. London is a fairly long drive from Toronto (2.5 hrs) and I had anticipated it to be mostly a grueling journey there and back, with maybe a few good car snacks, but while there, we discovered two lovely shops.

City Lights Book Shop is a used bookshop with lots of treasures. What used bookshop does not require some dusty hunting! Many are similar in vibe, but I tend to measure each one by the magnificence of the books I can scrounge up from the shelves. This one! They had several French editions of Diary of a Wimpy Kid for $2 each, what a steal. We also got one English Diary of a Wimpy Kid for $8 and a book of Eudora Welty.

Already feeling victorious at all the money saved from my terrific deals, we decided to go find ramen, and en route Caleb (of course) pointed out this “games cards collectibles” shop across the street. The shop is called Heroes, and it did not look promising from the outside (a theme for the day), but inside, it was amazing, completely one of a kind. I’ve never been in a shop like it before. They sell cards like Magic the Gathering, comic books, anime and manga, graphic novels, collectible figurines, LEGO sets, Star Wars paraphernalia, and a bunch of other stuff. It was wild. I thought Caleb’s brain was going to explode. My brain was going to explode!

There was a lot of stuff in there.

Caleb ended up with some One-Punch Mans, and Naomi dug up some discount Babysitter’s Club graphic novels. I’m resistant to buying graphic novels at full price both because I can often order them through the shop but also because the kids blast through them in ten minutes, so I prefer they borrow them from the library unless they’re really ones they’ll read again and again. But who can resist a deal! Not I, said the little red hen.

Caleb and Naomi have been fighting over Diary of Wimpy Kid #2 which is dark blue, but Junia, being non-literate, saw this also (lighter) blue Diary of Wimpy Kid (#6) and immediately claimed it as hers, eager to join in.

Here she is looking super suspicious, hiding her book from her siblings, and possibly also protecting it from the indoor rain. Also apparently very dusty. Dust could be from either shop, or a combination.

Once again laden down with our spoils, we went two doors down, found our ramen, and dug in.

Caleb is always aghast at Junia pretending to read, mainly because she does it so seriously and for such a sustained period of time, and also because she often lays claim to books that he himself wants to read. He feels the injustice of this non-literate hobbit seizing and brandishing the treasure deeply in his bones. She doesn’t even know how to talk properly! She doesn’t even speak French?? It’s a tough life, Caleb, especially when the person you’re fighting against is cuter than you. Better get used to it now.

All in all, a really fantastic day, full of adventure and surprises. We are but earthlings travelling through Gondor, and on this day, we found some comic books and noodles.