A Magic Place

I was telling my friend how I bumped into my favourite artist, Paula Rego at the shops the other day when she suddenly announced:

London is a city where you can be single.

Startled, I took stock for a moment wondering if she was trying to tell me something. Unperturbed she carried on.

Its a city where there is so much going on. So much for everyone. It embraces you and anything can happen. You can be alone in this city and you'll be ok.

I understood what she meant. Its true. London is a city of possibility and change. Of shifting boundaries, ordinairy miracles and open embraces. It welcomes you. Somedays when you walk down the street, you can feel the buzz of the city flow through your bloodstream. London wants you to tap into her heartbeat so you can be in sync with one another. She calls out to you in so many different ways. If you live here you will have days where out of the blue, you will bump into your childhood icon at the shops. Where a stranger chases you down the street to give you back your umbrella that you left on the tube. There will be days where you despair at the weather and the grottiness. The lack of space and how it takes an hour and ten quid to go around the corner. London also requires you to be a people person. If you are not interested in, and curious about people and by that I mean the human race, then you best get out.

Underneath all the dirt, miracles and crowds lies a city with a raw brilliance which has been created through a fusion of time, population and coincidence. You know this is so because as a citizen, you can feel it.

Not all cities are great. Some are only great for periods of time before they sink back into obscurity. This is London's time and I'm glad I'm here to witness it. To be a part of the pulsing heart that is this great city.