In translation, this is what I love about London, an endless list of qualities my city has which I've whittled down to a few favourites.
Ok, so. I'm from Lincoln, England. A small city which is about as diverse as Victoria Beckhams' facial expressions. Londres, however, has a ridiculously vibrant demographic make up, it's well proper steeped in culture and stuff. When I first moved here at the end of February 2011, I had my BBC job as well as an extra evening job, working in one of Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurants. Of all the eighty-or-so staff there, I'd say a quarter were English. Working there, I learnt truckloads about Norway, Slovakia, Poland, Italy, Hungary, France, Indonesia... I could go on but I'm bored of naming countries.
Ey, I tell you what else, too -I've been re-learning my GCSE French for the last few weeks so that I can confidently converse with foreign visitors to Television Centre in other languages! I know! I inflicted my education in foreign jibber-jabber on the unsuspecting tourists today, in fact. I said: "Quand Madonna visite le ...building, elle demande une tres grande portrait ...of du pape dans le ...dressing room..."
Now a) yes, I know there are a few errors there, but cut me some slack, I never claimed I was Coco ruddy Chanel (only French person I could think of) ... (je suis desole, to any French readers) plus, I said the words 'building' and 'dressing room' with a French accent anyway. And b) Yes, Madonna really did ask for a lifesize portrait of the pope on her Rider when she visited us. Idiot.
Love of London no.1: London makes me want to travel.
Another thing I love about London -something which I think is often overlooked -is its inner city charm. Like... ok, for example, walking from the bus to the tube station last week on my way to work, I had to do a sudden panicky hop to avoid stepping in ...a nappy which was in the middle of the street. See? Inner shi-, sorry, city charm. Then there’s the city foxes which have decided they're invincible; I swear to God they're ridiculously bold and wonder the streets with more attitude than a tagged convict.
Love of London no.2: London is your typical slightly-gross capital city.
I love how packed the coffee-fragranced tube is every morning, discarded Metro newspapers everywhere accompanied by my daily anticipation to see who'll get stuck in the doors today. It’s brilliantly satisfying to watch. Granted, it’s also slightly cruel. Last week was the best I've seen so far; a tiny female Chinese tourist, back-pack on, ran full pelt towards the closing doors. Logic would tell her to maybe not run towards a rapidly narrowing gap, but apparently she couldn't wait; London's tourist attractions needed her now. She made it through the doors ...but her back-pack didn't. It was brilliant because she was so teeny, there was nothing she could do apart from scrunch up her tiny face and make these weird whiney noises which, quite frankly, sounded like some kind of mating call. Two businessmen had to work as a team to yank her out and as the doors snapped shut, her relief was expressed with another weird noise which sounded like a balloon being deflated. Or maybe a snake having an orgasm. I imagine.
Love of London no.3: London tourists –they’re everywhere!
And lastly, I love the spontaneity of London weekends. Everything's here so you can do anything –London really is your Oyster card. A few weeks ago, my boyfriend Joe and I decided to take it easy and go chill in Hyde Park for the day. Ok, I had no money and we were hanging. We stumbled across a packed park, full of yob- ...I mean, people... enjoying a free UEFA football festival which included an endless bar with a beer elevator (beers are lowered down to you from the twelve foot high bar. Unnecessary genius.), it also included a giant football for endless innuendos, loads of matches to watch and -more importantly –some ruddy sunshine!!! Another weekend involved going to the Southbank where there's a bar boat called Tattershall Castle (weird, seeing as in Lincolnshire there's a Tattershall castle... which is an actual castle. Not a boat claiming to be a castle) and Joe and I sat and drank Jack Daniels and watched the sky get darker and the London Eye get brighter. It was a gorgeous moment until Joe asked me how many dead bodies I thought there was in the Thames. Plausible question ...I guess. Or there's the day we went to Camden Town and had dodgy-as-hell food from the food market and just walked round, seeing the sights and avoiding the tattoo shops (Joe was tempted. I was not.). The Royal Wedding day was pretty amazing -Hyde Park being the setting again. We arrived in style (ie, late) and stole a flag off a tourist, stocked ourselves up with cider and pretended to be avid royalists whilst soaking up the atmosphere -a day I'll never forget. Just last week, I went to see Fleet Foxes play an intimate gig for Radio 2 as hosted by Jo Whiley –what an incredible band. So bloody talented! One band member played about eight instruments! In fact, sitting there surrounded by such musical wizardry, I felt glad that I’ve been deepening my bilingual...ness by re-learning my French, which made me feel less talentless. During a rapture of applause, I almost shouted ‘Tres bon! Encore!’ but thought better of it. I didn’t want to show off.
Love of London no.4: London lifestyle.
No comments:
Post a Comment