Initial thoughts

People are always on the move in London. Sometimes I think the city is one giant movie set with a hidden director instructing countless extras, in all manner of outfits, to walk in every random direction as though they were on their way somewhere important. This is London's curse and great gift. It means that late nights in the city are generally quite safe. It's common to see a line of people at a bus stop waiting to go home around midnight. It also means that you can remain anonymous quite easily. The paradoxical problem with this situation is that London's constant activity provides no respite for those seeking peace, privacy or intimacy. Londoners can spot a fresh visitor a mile away, but they dare not say anything about it. The custom in London is to not bother other people, lest they bother you. Of course, most Londoners are foreigners, but there seems to be some certain period of time you must spend in the city before you are accepted as a local. I suspect this period is the time it takes you to no longer pull out the A-Z on every street corner.

Another thing that has stood out for me is the amount of casualised labour. The shops, the streets, the underground, are all filled with people in uniforms or waving placards or handing out leaflets. Yes, it is true that London is an easy city to find a job, and having a job is a good thing. But it also means it is an easy city in which to exploit people who are desperate to make ends meet.

Until around a few days ago I felt totally bewildered in London. There was one moment on only my third day here when, having lost my friends in a large crowd around the main entrance to Oxford Circus station and confronted by a sea of unknown faces, I began breathing heavily and looking to the heavans. Since then I have started to soak in the atmosphere much better. Overall I have to say I'm enjoying the London vibe. I love the fact that each building in the city centre is different with a history equally unique. No two people dress the same, and many are not afraid to kit themselves out in outfits which would be considered absurd in another city (like the young man I saw yesterday wearing camo cargo pants with matching shoes and his calvin klein underpants exposed, and an outrageously long, spiked hairdo).

There is plenty to explore here, and most of the city streets have something worth checking out. London may not be an immediately accepting city. But hidden in the armpits of a cold, all-too-grey exterior is a warmth and texture that is starting to fascinate me.