London Calling

I've been missing London a lot lately and thought that I would share an email I sent to everyone years ago while living in London...

London Edition 5 Nov. 2004

I recently received an email from my cousin Brandi who asked me "Do you love London, Could you live there permanently?"

So I sat and thought and wrote this little bit down. Here are the answers to those questions.

I love london because of the smells that overwhelm me in the tube station, the wind that blows my hair when a train is just leaving and the rats that I see every once in awhile down there. I love that it takes me an hour to get to anywhere in London on the tube and in that hour I get to sit and indulge in a book(today I read 60 pages from The Five People You Meet in Heaven), or watch people get on and off the tube wondering where they are heading or coming from. I love that I get to walk upstairs and down stairs while listening to the saxophone or guitar belted out by some random person pan handling. Just walking around in general is a reason I love it .

I love big cities for that reason, you walk and take in the world more and can stop and observe situations. (and lose weight in the meantime) I love that I can get lost on accident but not get upset about it because i have happened upon something even more enjoyable than where I was headed in the first place (My Aunt Carmel and I had an experience like this the other day while she was visiting.) I enjoy crunching the leaves and smelling the leaves in London, they seem to have a distinct aroma, one that I have never smelled anywhere else, and I am a connoseiur of leaf smells.

I love that I can get off the tube station anywhere at all and it is interesting. Whether it be the punkrockers/goths at Camden town or the business men in there nice suits and shiny watches in the financial district, or the law district where they still practice law in the white wigs and can see walking about. It fascinates me.

I love London for the reason that old is mixed with new. It is a vast city but no tall buildings. I love SoHo with the mix of dirty and china town. I love Leicster square and Picadilly circus with the bright lights hollering out to you to buy a ticket to their play. And so you do. I love the talent that London produces.

I do love seeing those red telephone booths, and those red letter boxes, and the red double decker buses that we all know about, and that makes London London. (by the way they are phasing the red double decker buses out in the next year). I love that the stamps half to have part of the Queen's face somewhere on the stamp. And the money, it's beautiful and not just because it is money, the two pounder is my favorite. it is a silver center with a gold edging.

I love that I can enter any church on any given night and here a wonderful Mozart or Bach being played. Or that I can walk along the Thames River at any given time and here bagpipes playing by someone who is trying to make an extra pound.

I used to say that I loved the accent the most, but now I can't even here it.
I love the people. And as intelligent as some of them seem, I can assure you there are some that are not. I love their sense of humor. Dry and witty and sometimes I don't even get it, but I want to get it. I love their television, their game shows. I love that I love that they are so into knowing everything about everyone who is famous, it's humorous to me, yet I find myself leaning over in the tube listening with a close ear to what someone is saying about so and so or reading the back of someone's newspaper and getting the spoonful of knowledge about the local celebrities.

I love the feeling of missing someone. I think missing someone is a good thing. Knowing that I miss my family and friends makes me realize who is important in my life.

What I love the most about London, is all of it. If I had to choose one single thing about it I might just say where this email began, the tube rides. The tube map is ingenius. It was designed by a man who was only paid a measly 55 pounds. Yet it is a symbol of London. It can take you anywhere you want to go in London. It can take you to the amazing art galleries where you can see the works of Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Picasso, Wharhol, Matisse, etc. It can take you to a local hang out (mine is O'Neills, a local pub with live Irish music). It can take you to a romantic walk along the River bed, or it can simply take you home.

Yes, Yes, I could live here permanently.

love you,

hayley