My love affair with the London city: Living in London

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London is sprawling – a giantess with veins pumping not blood but people; arms spread wide reaching to fingertips of Oakwood and Uxbridge and toes tickling New Malden and Bromley; a colossal beating heart at the center and an overactive brain that never sleeps.

How to live in London, UK

London is a manic city, an overexcited and hyperactive teenager fulled by bright lights, the smell of restaurants from around the world and the sounds of music and shouting. There’s no arthritis in its bones – London is fluid and lively and energetic. Paris is romantic, languid, a lover picking petals in a garden filled with daisies. 

New York is supermodel sleek, modern haircut and all the latest accessories. But London, London is a bit grubby round the edges and its hair is a mess, there’s a hole in one of its shoes but it really doesn’t give a shit, it never goes to school and spends its time smoking behind the bike sheds.

But we bloody love it, don’t we?

Lost in The London City…

There are some days (like today), when the weather is miserable and the city weeps, that I just feel like putting my iPod on, hands firmly in pockets and head down, and walking nowhere in particular. I love wandering aimlessly, knowing that I have nothing to do and nowhere to be, going adrift in the myriad of London streets. I love walking in the rain, in the grey, and getting totally and utterly lost in unfamiliar territory.

The London is Great City to Live and Travel

Although I have lived in London all my life (I may be clutching at straws, I live in Zone 5 but I work in central and have done for four years), I still find hidden little gems in the city on walks like today. I’ve discovered food stalls that sell the most authentic Pad Thai, decorated with raw crunchy bean sprouts and slicked with lime, served by humble Thai ladies behind tall counters that I’ve had to tiptoe to thank. I’ve discovered book stores, hidden down back streets, and I’ve sheltered inside amongst sweet, musty smelling pages. I’ve sat and smoked in tiny parks in London’s business district – small parks with astounding greenery and little wooden benches, surrounded by huge foreboding buildings with glossy windows and immaculately dressed workers, going about their lives like mechanical clones of each other. I’ve perched on walls overlooking the Thames, and admired graffiti in all its anarchic arrogance. I love the ease with which you can travel around London during the day, hopping on and off the tube lines, coming into contact with but not talking to other London day-trippers. Because ideally I wouldn’t want to interact with anyone on a day like today. I just want to walk around, getting lost in London town.

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