north london | Little London Observationist

While I was in New York earlier this month, I had the opportunity to enjoy plenty of beautiful Autumn leaves, like these…

London has nothing on upstate New York when it comes to a vibrant October, but Joseph O’Malley captured the golden London leaves here perfectly in his two photos below of Springfield Park in Stamford Hill, North London.

Enjoy what’s left of the leaves while you can – Winter is coming! Brrrrr….

Side note – After seeing these photos, I spent the last 20 minutes reading a very interesting article about Stamford Hill. I googled the area because I realised it’s somewhere in London I really knew nothing about. This fascinating piece from The Telegraph is what popped up. It’s long, but worth a good skim at least! (I realise it’s old news from 2011, but we found ourselves lost in a heavily Orthodox Jewish area of Brooklyn at the end of our NY trip so this was particularly timely from my perspective!)

Climb to the top of Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath and you’ll see a stunning view of the city.

But the best part is, that if you turn around and look the other way without moving at all, you’ll be in a different world, a green and peaceful place.

Turn to the side and you look down on what appears to be a happy little village.

Even in the rain, the Heath is lovely. This couple, with a typical English mindset, refuses to let the blustery rain spoil their romance.

It’s a place to gather your thoughts, to contemplate life, to take a few strong gulps of fresh air before heading back into bus fumes and Kebab shop smells of the city.

In a city of 8 or so million bodies pressing into small spaces and fighting for air, it’s unusual to catch one person alone and nothing but emptiness and a few trees and the greatness of a vast and open sky.