Six's junk thought theorem: February 2011

Thursday, February 17, 2011

31 reasons I love London and counting...

When I was a kid my mother used to tell me two things. First, when you're walking around London always look up, all the good stuff is on the roofs. The second was, never get the tube if you can avoid it, walk everywhere, the city's smaller than you think. They're absolutely true and next time you're in the centre of town do it, it'll pay dividends, I guarantee you.

As a fiercly proud (but now departed) Londoner I have always been fantatically defensive of the city. I love both it's intimacy and it's ability to provide you with complete anaonymity depending on how the mood takes you.

So I thought I'd do a list of some of things I love

1. Walking across Waterloo bidge at dawn in the summer and stopping to look both ways
2. Sitting on the benches in the rookery on Streatham Common on a cold winter's day
3. Taking a stroll across the Millennium Bridge from Bankside Power Station to St Pauls
4. Standing on Parliament Hill and looking across the city on a clear sunny day.
5. Visiting the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park in high summer
6. Walking across Wandsworth Common on a clear spring morning and watching the swans with their new born cygnets.
7. Tumbling out of Fabric at 7am and going on to Trade at Turnmills until 2pm - the best clubbing double header on earth (you can't do this anymore, but it was good)
8. Staying at the St Martin's Lane for the hell of it, despite the fact you only live just out of town
9. The film and supper club at the Charlotte Street Hotel
10. Eating at Chez Bruce, the finest most unpretentious restaurant in christendom
11. Singalong Sound of Music at the Prince Charles in Leicester Square
12. Walking the South Bank from Vauxhall to Greenwich
13. Cycling in Ham and pretending you're in the country
14. Star spotting at J.Sheekey
15. Bloody marys and shepherd's pie at the Grenadier in Belgravia
16. Walking through Belgravia and realising what a ridiculously prosperous country we live in.
17. The Dublin castle, The Brixton Academy (I don't recognise the O2 thing), The Balham Kitchen and Bar, Lupo, The Bedford to name oh so few
19. Skateboarders at the NFT
20. Rollerbladers in Hyde Park
21. Dulwich gallery
22. The Polka Theatre
23. Walking up Whitehall with Nelson in your sights
24. Being astounded by the Palace of Westminster every time you see it.
25. The gilded grasshopper on top of the Royal Exchange
26. Fresh chorizo sandwiches from Borough Market
27. Looking down on the Gerkin from Tower 42
28. Sinking Stellas, sat on Clapham Common, on long summer evenings, watching big screen movies
29. High summer at Brockwell lido
30. Boat parties in Little Venice
31. Living just outside the M25 and still being able to access it all