in London.
Observations:
the mullet is back
what was £5 is now £10
my feet hurt as soon as I enter the borough of greater london
airpods have reached a critical mass
the tube is warm and always has been
the art is incredible
the river is majestic
a London suburb such as Ealing Broadway has more food choices, art and cultural opportunities than entire counties do outside of London. To me this is absolutely incredible and possibly a form of cultural inequality that stems from wealth inequality?
the phrase used by people who don't live in London; "that's just so London" or "that's just such a London thing" now makes complete sense to me
e.g paying £3.50 for a plain croissant in a cold warehouse sitting uncomfortably on a stool as I did this morning
with the advent of contactless payment - money spent in London is even more of a seamless experience. Beep. Beep. Beep. Money. Money. Money.
the architecture and historic buildings are beautiful and the lengths gone to, to upkeep them is really brilliant.
an oversized thick chequered shirt has now become a unisex item
being own your own in a public place is highly acceptable which I really like
smiling at people in the streets yields mixed results. 10% return a smile, 70% look straight through you/don't notice you, 10% look initially surprised and then return a coy smile, 10% are deeply afraid of you and your intentions.
has London ever changed or has it actually been like this for the last 300 years? an interesting thought.. I imagine some things have not changed at all. The London of today does seem to have similarites with the Londons that Dickens and others wrote about.
My thought process on visiting london
"I hate it here"
"it's so fucking busy"
"where will I sit"
"my feet hurt"
"ooh that's cool"
"wow that building is big"
"I feel so small and insignificant"
"i'm INSPIRED!"
"i need to get rich now"
"can't afford that"
"can't afford that"
"be great to afford that at some point"
"oooh that's cool"
"love what he's wearing"
"is she wearing green trousers with one leg cut off at the knee?"
"OK, right yeah, wow ok, what is that?!"
"probably a PR event"
"she looks rich"
"bet he's a banker"
"why doesn't the pointer on citymapper work anymore"
"so good here, love it"
"this is one of the best cities in the world"
"i'm ready to go home now"