10 Things I love About Living in London: Part 1

 I like the spirit of this great London which I feel around me. Who but a coward would pass his whole life in hamlets; and for ever abandon his faculties to the eating rust of obscurity? -Charlotte Brontë

I haven’t always lived in London.  For the first 19 years of my life, I lived with my family in rural Norfolk before stepping out into the big wide world and Nottingham University.  This gave me my first taste of independence and of city life.  It was only a matter of time before London came calling.  She came in the form of my husband who got a job here.  We were married, moved to a small flat, which in those days we were able to buy and have never looked back.

Despite growing up in the country, I had visited London many times, with family, on school trips and then with friends.  A trip to London had me tingling with excitement and I always found it hard to leave.  Travelling around the whole of the circle line just because I could, eating my first Indian meal in a tiny restaurant in Leicester Square, and watching the street performers in Covent Garden with wide eyes.  I adored it all.

Settling in to city living came easily to me. I loved the hustle and the noise.  I loved the proximity of everything and I loved the anonymity .  I clearly remember walking by myself along Oxford street, feeling alive and thrilled with the vastness of everything.  Buying Sunday papers on a Saturday night from vendors in Waterloo station never failed to thrill and discovering the array of museums and galleries which were free to visit was a revelation.

Although I am much less likely to be found in  Oxford Street these days, preferring the quieter, less well trodden paths, the thrill of living in the city I visited in awe as a child has never left me.  These are just some of the reasons why I love it so.

It Is So Easy To Walk Everywhere

Despite its size, it really is very easy to walk around London or at least individual areas of London. It is always easy to spot newcomers to London as they will board a train at Piccadilly circus and disembark at Leicester Square, a short one stop hop later.  The best way to discover London is to walk and wander. There is always something to discover.  The many bridges across the Thames makes it easy to cross from North to South.  Choosing areas of London which are close to one another and walking from one to the next is the easiest way to become familiar with the city.

The Number of Green Spaces and Quiet Places

I write regularly of my love of London’s quiet places.  The Royal parks, provide vast areas of green space in which to escape the dust of the city in summer.  Hampstead Heath is a wonderful sprawl of trees and heathland in winter and those garden squares are a surprise waiting to be discovered. There are so many places just moments away from the hustle and bustle of London’s busiest streets. Like most of London’s hidden places and quiet spaces, you just need to know where to find them.

The Museums and Galleries

My favourite kind of London day will almost always involve a gallery or a museum.  London has some of the biggest  museums full of untold treasures.  As I have said on numerous occasions, the Victoria and Albert is pure delight in every way. The lesser known Wallace Collection is a house of treasure filled with French 18th century arts.  There are so many wonderful museums and galleries large and small, well known and barely known to chose from.  Collections and displays change and the wealth of exhibitions in London is immense.

The Anonymity

London is often referred to as the loneliest city in the world and I am sure that may be true for some.  For me it has never felt that way. It is that ability to walk anywhere and visit anything and be who you want to be that I love.  Of course I value community too but there is a freedom which comes from being just another person in a sea of other people.

The Juxtaposition of History and Contemporary Culture and Achitecture

You only need to stand on Westminster Bridge or Waterloo bridge or almost any other bridge to see how the old and new of London stand side by side.  The city of London is full of sky scraping glass constructions, and yet just around the corner are some of London’s oldest and most historic buildings and monuments.  Together they blend to make up a city full of historical and contemporary history and culture which exist in companionable partnership.

To be continued next week…..