Why I ♥ London!

I wasn’t born in  London, and I never wanted to move to London, but a job that I loved brought me here in the 1980s and now I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Just this afternoon, I was sitting at my desk, preparing for a meeting tomorrow and I realised that tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. That day in all its horror will never leave me. That day my daughter aged 12 told me that she didn’t want to live here anymore as she was too scared. I told her I couldn’t afford to leave my job and move away but promised that I’d do my best to save up. I never did save up and over the years my daughter fell in love with London. She breathed it in, absorbed it and flourished.

There are so many reasons why I love London that I could never list them all. I’d need to write as many volumes as Samuel Pepys used for his diaries or Shakespeare used to contain the plays he staged at the Globe. So much history made and recorded here how could I ever evaluate it in just one blog post?

Still there’s something about London’s people, its history, it’s courage and resilience that makes it the best place in the world to live. It’s the little stories that you hear that remind you how special it is. I read today that a man riding a unicycle in Walthamstow got run over by a bus and all the passengers and bystanders (around a 100 people) lifted the bus off him and saved his life! Amazing – and did you notice how we just accept that someone riding a unicycle down the road is normal too!

I love its diversity too – that’s a term that I take for granted living in this fair city – fair in both senses of the word – but you don’t have to stray far from London to realise that diversity and inclusion aren’t standard across the country by any means. It’s not perfect here but I’m encouraged to see people trying to make things work – like the remembrance walk that’s planned for tomorrow. Today Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders walked with a 7/7 bombing survivor from Kings Cross to Tavistock Square ahead of tomorrow’s anniversary. Commuters are being asked to walk the last part of their journey tomorrow  to show unity.

The old story of Dick Whittington said that the streets of London are paved with gold – now that may not be true but there is a whole wealth of opportunity, bravery, compassion, history, art, music, and love and more here for those that seek it.

So, that’s just a taster of why I love London and here are a few of my photos that remind me of it.

Do you love London too? Tell me why!

Hazel

Tower Bridge

Buckingham Palace

Red Arrows

Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Selfridges

Magazine Restaurant

London Skyline from Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane