London city centre

Spent yesterday meandering my way about the sights and sounds of the capital. London is absolutely huge. An unplanned sprawl of neighbourhoods, which are almost independent cities of their own, each with very peculiar identities.

On Saturday, after cancelling an impromptu visit to Paris, I ended up walking all the way down Regent's canal, from King's Cross to the Camden lock, and on till Little Venice, which is out by Maida Vale. You wouldn't believe how pastoral it feels. The sun was out, as well as the bellies and skinny white legs of a lot of tourists and passters-by, and it was like being in a small Italian town, or in Cambridge, even though trains were screaming in and out of King's Cross right next door.

London is full of gorgeous walks that nobody seems to tell you about. The city is so hectic and busy that people tend to get out of it to enjoy calmer countryside, when they want peace and quiet. Only it's right there at their doorstep; they just don't have the time to see it.




This part of the canal borders Little Venice, which is almost like a port for barges. It's a nook of tranquility in this mad, buzzing city. People seem to live much more peacefully than in the rest of London. And when you walk down here and see rusty old barges with 'for sale' notices, it can only make you fantasize about a different life right downtown.


I'm quite sure they're hellish to maintain, and I can hardly imagine how many insects you get in the summer. But still. There must be people who are nuts enough to live this way. Anyway.

This part of the canal is right next to the London Zoo. I can't imagine what the zoo itself is like, but from the canal it looks stunning. Especially since it's near the part of Camden where loads of people come walking from Camden, so you get every possible freak of nature around there. People hanging out consuming all sorts of entertaining items, with more piercings on their bodies than skin that isn't pierced.


See London is a bit like a giant anthill. Very impressive architecturally, makes you want to admire it, and observe it aesthetically, but before you know it your shoes are covered in odd things you didn't even know existed. And you love it, even though it itches and you'll need a shower when you get home. But boy will you have enjoyed the ride.



The graffiti down brick lane isn't that far off from Picadilly, where the canal ends. It's a pretty-boy pretentious part of town with lots of fashionable designer shops which find 'retro' clothes and sunglasses which they sell for an outrageous fortune. Sort of like something out of a Jennifer Saunders sketch, but taking itself far more seriously. There are DJ stores all around, which sell overpriced second hand records.

But it's fantastic.

When you're not stuck in the tube, that is...