27 August 2017

One Day. A London Love Affair

I paused on the first sentence of this blog post for a long time before I started writing it. Why? Because it's about London, and like all things you really, truly care about, it's always hard to express your feelings with mere words. My love affair with this city is no different.


Time is a funny thing. Whilst a single moment can feel like a lifetime, often a period of years can pass in a blink.

Einstein believed time was a relative concept; that it wasn't consistent as everyday life would suggest.

Having lived in London I whole-heartedly agree. The regular time 'rules' don't seem to apply here. Time away from family felt like a lifetime, an entire day spent wandering the city felt like little more than an hour, late nights and early mornings meant 4 hours sleep seemed like plenty...


One thing's for certain - no amount of time in this place would ever be enough. London is like an addiction. It has a certain allure. So no matter if you've spent 10 days or 10 years here, its magnetism leaves you feeling like it's impossible to leave. This is exactly the way I felt when I left, last year.

Returning now, after a year away, also makes time seem strange. It's almost as if the city was frozen in time from the day I left, to the day I returned. No one moved, no one breathed. Tubes sat idle, restaurants waited.


Of course, I'm not discounting what has happened here in that time - certainly there has been plenty and sadly not all of it good. But for whatever reason, I personally feel like London has waited for me, greeting me warmly upon my return, with all the familiarities I remember and adore.

My favourite pizza at Franco Manca. Riverside walks in Richmond. Hyde Park picnics. Mayfair nightclubs. Dinners with friends. Pubs overflowing on the pavement. Big red buses roaring down Regent St. Museum days. Rooftop cinema nights.

It's all still here and that brings me such joy - the idea that my most loved things will be here waiting, each and every time I return.

I have no explanation for this other than to believe that London runs on its own clock, its own time. And no, I don't mean the Greenwich Mean.


For those of you who have never visited or lived here, you'll probably wonder what it is I'm rambling on about. For those of you that have, I have no doubt you will understand. I hope when you return that London welcomes you back as warmly as it has done me. I have no doubt it will...

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Photos by Krissie.