It’s only been a year since I was here last, but several things struck me as I wandered around London today.
Mayor Ken Livingston has been transformational – bike lanes, and traffic congestion charges make for less pollution, while Trafalgar Square is vastly improved. The section of road in front of the national gallery was pedestrianised a few years back, and the Square has been cleaned up – it is actually a pleasant place now.
I kept being bumped into. This didn’t happen in Paris at all, but for some reason in London people kept smacking into me, and with seldom a ‘sorry’. It’s a rough place.
The scale of wealth displayed here is daunting, whether shown through the truly insane prices of real estate, the £150,000 shotguns for sale at James Purdey and Sons, or the £4 single ride tube tickets.
The associated ugliness – while London shows it’s wealth, it does not have the style of Paris and other European cities.
So it’s a rough tough dreary place, albeit one where the streets are paved with gold.
Lance Wiggs 