Thrice now I have made London a place of habituation. It remains a bubbling world class city ever so slightly spoilt by its inclement weather. Maybe I have been spoilt by the French and Italian summers? It has rained every day since we have arrived, and I think if I was working I would be feeling a bit more out of sorts than usual.

Sub note (I should not take so long writing things. We have had two very nice days in a row)

We have been relishing living in a house. I have learned there are two sides to me. There is the diligent adventurer who loves exploring on foot with notebook and camera in hand. There is also the reclusive dragon who loves to sit amongst his trinkets and treasure writing up stories from excursions. I think that in the last year my adventure/life balance has been so heavily tipped towards adventure it was hindering my health. It is so nice to wake up in a bed that is not rocking in the same place every morning.

Let me now take time to reflect on some of the simpler things that I have spied upon about the last week.

Commuting,

When your daily commute is from your cabin to the deck of the yacht, it is well quite short.

The evolution of the seasoned London traveller works something like this,

Catching Taxi’s
Catching the Tube
Catching a Bus
Riding a Bicycle
Working from home & going online for shopping

The Pale People and the Great indoors

The limited sun light has meant I have felt my carefully crafted sun tan fading away by the minute. Such was the despair felt on Thursday that we booked an eight day holiday in Ibiza, Spain. In the mean time I will be staying in doors as much as possible. I have noticed people on the streets are at worst down right angry and at the best deeply melancholic. Maybe this is just working nine to five in a big city?

Step inside however and things change radically, people are cheerful and pleasant, YMMV. London has a wealth of things to do indoors. Why just this Tuesday night we went and saw Phantom of the Opera. It is impossible to run out of things do do. In fact the only part where my theory falls apart is when you see very cheerful drunk people on the streets. They of course got drunk inside pubs so I guess I can let that slide.

The Worldliness of it all.

Again I have been living in a continental bubble. I am having to travel from the very familiar Putney to the exotic melting pot that is Tooting. Tooting is like stepping into down town Bangalore or what I imagine Bangalore to be like. It is only a 20 minutes bus ride away but there could be a transcontinental seamless wormhole along the bus route.

We are going to a party this Friday in an exotic creative place called Shoreditch. I was told by a knowledgeable Australian I met out of a million people at the Notting Hill festival, that to fit in we should wear three completely random pieces of clothing and look interesting. No problem.