Alleys Yield Results

There is a distinct lack of crazy alleys leading between buildings to alluring, hidden, and secret places in America. Exeter is home to the smallest street in the world which is barely one person wide. I haven't been down it yet but after my experience today I'd imagine there HAS to be something great at the end.

For one, between two rehearsals, I went to go find the Devon County Library. This was at the end of Gandy Street, a.k.a Diagon Alley. And...it really looked Diagonish today. It has these black and white flags hanging everywhere and it's cobblestones and there're no cars, and these big draping plants on all the walls, and really nice shops too. If I had the money to spend on something so ephemeral as expensive food, I would've stopped by the chocolate shop there... but as you'll find out, I spent my money this week on things that were SO much more useful.

So down Diagon Alley there's a theater called The Phoenix with a bunch of oddly steampunk metallic statues. Some kids were trying to determine if the bird-like one above the doors was a pterodactyl or something. I almost stopped and told them, "I think it's a phoenix." Kids.

You take another alley away from the Phoenix theatre and you get to the Library. In the library, they have a floor that is, literally, the "drama section" with its own librarians and everything. I was walking past shelves just running my fingers over the spines, I almost wanted to say "these are my friends" a la Sweeny Todd. That and I haven't met nearly enough British people, which is sort of a sad thing to say. In any case, I really did want to kind of hug the bookshelves. I need to get a library card before I can check everything ... I mean "anything" ... out, but once I do that....mmmm....

Later that day I encountered another alleyway, which was more or less a shopping mall tucked away in the facade of a bunch of buildings, called the something Arcade. It has the word Arcade in it.

First, there was a comic book/game/hobby store there, and once my travelling compatriot, Ken Worrall, told me they had RPGs in there, I quickly turned around and went in. While he was trying to order Magi-Nation the collectable card game (Ken: "It hasn't really come out yet..." Guy at Desk: "-then we can't really order it." Ken: "I know." Guy: "It's not cost effective to have a lot of CCGs, because if they don't sell, we're left with a bunch of boosters." Ken: "Yeah, I know. But I'm sure this one's about to make a comeback!" Guy: (skeptical look) ), I walked deep into a narrow path of bookshelves, and discovered none other than assorted Old World of Darkness Sourcebooks, including a Kithbook for Changeling: The Dreaming, which is an amazing find because a) I'd never seen a physical book for Changeling before this, and b) it's a Kithbook, meaning it's more or less a senseless supplemental book that no one sane would ever buy. But then, sane people don't play White Wolf. That's sort of their slogan.

So I found and bought the following:

The Silent Striders Clanbook, from Werewolf: The Apocalypse
The Stargazers Clanbook, also Werewolf.
"Urban Legends," a sourcebook for Hunter: The Reckoning that is LITERALLY, from what I can tell, just information that helps you set a Hunter game in an urban environment.

Mmm. Books.

Then at the end of that street was a vintage/second-hand store called The Real McCoy at which I purchased some elf ears for my Halloween costume: a piskie. Piskies, according to wikipedia, originate in no other area of England except, drumroll, DEVON and CORNWALL. They live in the open areas near DARTMOOR and lead hikers astray and play pranks. In other words, piskies live in and around Exeter. In other words, I am not just randomly dressing up as a fairy (there's a subtle difference between a fairy and a piskie) but I am going to be a walking folklorist exercise. It's gonna be pretty cool.

Anyway, I returned home a happy camper with no money but a lot of hope.