Goodbye London, Goodbye

I’m sitting in New York now, looking out the window of my parents’ house at piles of snow plowed up along the streets. I watched London shrink away from me on the plane yesterday, the cars turning to ants, the houses just lego rows way down below surrounding the snake of the Thames and then clouds. Big fluffy clouds. And London was gone.

But the thing is, I know London will always be there. It’s one of the absolute best cities in the world and that’s not going to change anytime soon. One thing the past four years in that heaving metropolis has taught me is that there’s a hell of a big world out there that needs exploring. London has a bite of every country in the world to give you a taster but it’s time to dive in for more.

Tomorrow will be my last London post on this blog – answering any questions you want to throw at me in a Listen to a Londoner style entry. Leave them in the comments or email me at littlelondonobservationist@hotmail.co.uk

I want to thank all of you for following this blog and your comments and encouragement. It’s been a wonderful experience and I will certainly continue a similar blog from my next destination…

What More Is There?

Some words of wisdom from Anthony Hopkins spotted in Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden…

Today I will be flying out of London to move on to new adventures. I adore this city, but there’s a bit world out there and meeting all of the people I have in London has inspired me to move on and explore. I will be starting a new blog from my next location so stay tuned for a link here. In the meantime, you can also catch me over at Little Photography Observationist.

My last post here will be on Saturday. I’ll be doing a Listen to a Londoner post , so I invite you to throw questions at me to answer through this week. I’ll pick 10 of the best for Saturday. Leave them in the comments or email me at littlelondonobservationist@hotmail.co.uk

Guest Post: Good Bye London

Words and photo by Ramble who came from India to enjoy the little things London had to offer for a while. She blogged here about her London experience, but now it’s time for her to move on to the next adventure. She wanted to share her goodbye to London with us.

Your assorted collection of people from all over the world, your cold rainy mornings which give an excuse to crib, the kiss of smooth snow on your grumpy old roads, the haughty rail tracks which boast about being your arteries, your toddlers who have a secret religion of waving and smiling at every passing stranger, your manicured leafy parks who put on unconvincing make up to try a hand at idyllic beauty…what am I going to miss most about you?

They were wrong. You weren’t fake, gloomy, cold or soulless; nor were you overflowing with riches and opportunities. You couldn’t afford to give me even the meanest of wages. You were so poor that you had to sell everything at exorbitant prices.

And, you weren’t a city which will just be a mild drizzle over wax, leaving every thing the same as before. You do know to leave your mark without colouring it with loud melodrama and tantrums. The split seconds which makes one age as old as the chronicled calendar years, leaving behind the vestiges of teenage carefully wrapped and carried into a decade of adult hood…. the moments which remind that being a traveller means having faith in the kindness of strangers….the warm sun of your autumn and the cool breeze of your summer which reassures that home is a place within one’s heart…. Well, there is much that you have given, beyond the limits of shoddy ‘thank you’ notes.

So, good bye from one among the ‘platform’ souls, we who are always waiting for a few wheels to make a journey to somewhere else. Always acquiring only that much which can be left behind.

And, try to be kind to those who come in, saluting yet another flag, mouthing yet another piece of jingoism, swearing allegiance to yet another ‘invincible’ nation, learning yet another ‘great’ language….. so as to call a few feet of land ‘home’.