Coming back from London

Sunday, 28th October 2012

It’s 16.46 and it’s nearly night time. 45 minutes later is already dark. What a depression.

It remained a thorn not having visited London yet. I had the opportunity some two summers ago, but at this point I would have had to spend there only one day, and I didn’t think it was time enough, so I let it go. Now that I’ve been there for four days and I’ve left a track of me in quite the most famous landmarks I still think that probably even a month is not enough to become part of this great – in every sense – city. To get acquainted to it, yes, it is. But I want to feel like a Londoner, I want my heart to beat at its rhythm, I want to live – at least for some period – surrounded by the rest of the millions there, I want to be a lasting ant in this huge ant’s nest.

For many London is a soulless grey dirty city. I say, any place can become a soulless grey dirty place.  Maybe with time I get tired of it and ended up flying elsewhere, but not now. It’s completely clear that when I finish my degree I will have to leave Spain to try and make a living somewhere else abroad. I had a lot of places in mind to carry on with my travelling adventure, so why not London? Time will tell.

London is overcrowded. London is bubbly.

You can sit in a pavement café and watch people walk by. The amazing details you can observe are endless. You could spend like that years and every day you would be surprised, for sure. Camden was magnificent – you could see there all types of people, of beliefs, of styles and cultures. Not only the main ones, but the more isolated ones as well.

London is green. London is peaceful.

There are many trees everywhere - and parks too.  In spite of the huge amount of people in London’s landmarks, it’s possible to find places where to breathe calmness. Along the Thames there are also benches where you can sit to rest. In some points there are many people too, especially tourists, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in general a pleasant place to relax.

London is white. London is glorious.

It’s true that the cloudy sky makes from time to time the atmosphere kind of greyish and sad. But that’s not an obstacle to wow the city as the splendorous capital city of the empire it was some time ago and as the splendorous city – and still capital – it is. The high buildings made with white and light grey stone, maybe more European than British, but still breath-taking. So high, so wide, so overwhelming.

London. Lively. Cosmopolitan. Vibrant. Full of buskers and other kind of artists/entertainers. Full of dreams. But also full disappointments. Full of energy. Full of blood.

Una turista

Talking about blood. Yesterday, Saturday 27^th October, many people were already celebrating Hallowe’en. It was brilliant how people here make an effort to make their fake wounds look real. There was a girl who seemed to have had her mouth beaten so she had lips, chin and part of cheeks no more, then there was a guy pretending he had been shot on his forehead (the “hole” was huge) and a thread of blood was running down between his brows and half his nose, he was having dinner with a girl who had another shot – I can’t recall this so clearly, but if it wasn’t a shot, it something of the sort – on her breast. People in disguise had done a great job – white (not pale) skin, with wounds and bruises.

The entire trip since I first walk over British ground, I’ve been making two links – one with Madrid, as you may easily guess, another with Harry Potter. I discovered Glenfinnan Viaduct’s name and location, I saw Platform 9 ¾, I’ve drunk tea in The Elephant’s Head (where Rowling wrote the books),  I’ve visited Edinburgh Castle and George Heriot School (the two buildings which inspired Hogwarts), I stood in front of McGonagall’s grave… the stands for the Military Tattoo even had some resemblance to a quidditch pitch!