Chain Blogging: I Love London (but I think you know that already)

I love (amongst other things):

• The view from Alexandra Palace, having a beer in the early summer evening.
• Being steeped in history, beautiful buildings, a chaotic sense of town planning, constantly changing urban cityscape.
• London's parks - not the countryside, not away but peaceful.
• The Thames, winding its way through vistas of London that are vast and juxtaposing, historic and modern, industrial and residential, with suprising wildlife. And walking along the south bank in the falling dusk chatting to friends, popping into bars on the way.
• Sitting on the front left hand seat downstairs or the back lefthand seats of a routemaster, or the front top deck seats of a new london bus in the winter.
• Not needing a car.
• Shopping in Selfridges (not even necessarily buying anything) until closing on a Friday or Saturday evening.
• That an evening out can be spontaneous rather than planned - eating, drinking, dancing, seeing something, at the spur of the moment.
• Diversity.
• Having facilities: theatres, cinemas, galleries, historic landmarks, great bookshops,...
• Parts of town - distinct, with their own specific flavours, atmospheres, fashions, people.
• That oddness is acceptable.
• Being constantly surprised by places, people and things.

This list is unending even though there are many things that I miss as a london dweller that I am in awe of when visiting the countryside - like seeing a sky full of stars, the air quality, solitude, dramatic scenery, the sea crashing on rocks. But I am drawn by an invisible chord to this city of mine. I was born here, therefore I feel safe here. Nothing is more frightening to me than the pitch dark on a moonless night in the countryside with no street lights.


This is part of a chain of posts linked together by word association. The previous link in the chain was here @ headCleaner. If you want to write another link here's what to do: Find a word, phrase or theme from this post to inspire your own and go and write it. Try not to write something that's similar to this post. That way the subject of the posts along the chain will vary. E.g. if I write about going to the doctor's, then don't talk about the last time you were ill, instead describe how you used to play Doctors and Nurses with the girl next door. Get the idea? Your post can be in any style you want. Copy this paragraph and tack it onto the end of your post, updating the link to point here, then leave a comment here that points to your new post.


And the next chainpost is: A Sky Full of Stars at Santiago Dreaming