After our fantastic holiday, I finally arrived to a slightly wet and overcast London. I am lucky enough to be staying close to the city, and can easily walk outside to a Tube station. In the last couple of days, I’ve been amazed by just how easy it is to get around, even just within walking distance. So far I’ve managed to visit Soho, Buckingham Palace, Chinatown, Notting Hill, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, the B.A. London Eye, Covent Garden, Green Park, Somerset House, and the London Treasury. I’m really enjoying everything, but here are some observations I’ve made so far:
- Drivers get used to looking through foggy windows, the use of air conditioning to remove the fog seems to elude them
- You get used to the constant drizzle, there are plenty of people that walk about in the rain at a normal pace without a coat or umbrella
- Avoid sidewalks when it’s raining. I saw someone get instantly soaked by a wave of water when a car zoomed by.
- Journalists appear to be most eloquent here, with the most extensive use of the English language I have ever seen in the morning papers.
- As modern as the underground appears to be, climate control seems to elude them. There is no need to heat them when it’s warm already.
- Space is obviously limited, from the tiny little elevators, to where people are forced to drink out on the streets because the pubs are too crowded
- Concert tickets sell out fast (or maybe they end up in the hands of the “discount” ticket vendors that are selling them for more than double the original price)
- There is always something going on. This weekend alone was the V (music) festival somewhere out of London, Trafalgar Square had its own festival celebration, not to mention all of the clubs, pubs, and various music venues hosting their own gigs and events.