i love: all things London...

It seems after being away for a year that I find myself having a feeling of nostalgic adoration even for the things I used to dislike about London. Those things being the noise, the crowds, the British stiff-upper-lip and the cold and grey of winter. Those things being the archetypes of 'The Big Smoke'. 


Going away for a year and all that shifts in one's heart through doing that is a surreal and special experience. There is part of me that feels like I could just fit back into life here, the reason for which I will go in to in a moment, but yet on the other hand I am acutely aware of the whisper in my heart that says "I don't belong here anymore". However, the fact that my sense of home and belonging is no longer here doesn't negate the fact that I really do love and appreciate so many things about what will always be in some way - my city. 

i love:

The Tube, more over I love reading on the tube

Carnaby Street

Red Buses

Old buildings - they remind you that you are in a place full of History and memories

Trafalgar Square

Buckingham Palace

Walks along The Mall

The unfriendly-ness of people that mealts away at the slightest glimpse and taste of summer

London in summer!!!!!

Long summer evenings in Covent Garden

My favourite bookshop on Holland Park Avenue

Westfield aka. My mall

Black Cabs

The Theatre

24 hour... everything!

Popular culture

Feeling like you are on the cutting edge of everything

Sitting in a crowded Starbucks and reading. Surrounded by so much business and at the same time having nothing to do with it. 

Hamleys at Christmas time

Harrods at anytime!

Broadsheet Newspapers

The list could go on and on...

A few days ago I ventured out into town with some of my family. One of those being my cousin's fiance, the man who we have all deemed perfect for our little cousin. As I watched them hold hands and whisper and giggle to one another I found myself thanking God for the gift of relationships. How kind He is for putting precious people in our lives that add value to us and we in turn add value to. How kind He has been to me in blessing me with people who have come alongside me in life's journey to walk purposefully with me. What a gift!

Really, I love London because it it home to some of my nearest and dearest family and friends. It is home to people that I would call 'vital' to me. Companions, mind openers, 
collaborators, champions and confidants. These are the people that even on the greyest of days, give London its colour. They are the people that make it so easy just to fit back into life here, because the best relationships are those that no matter how long you are apart for, the minute you are face to face it is as though you just pick up the conversation where you left off. 


It is also the place that holds so many significant memories. It is the place I grew up, the place where I learned to love and serve Jesus, the place I met some of my closest friends, a place of much trial and triumph... and of course it is the place where I met, fell in love with and married my husband. It is the place that all of a sudden is no longer my home, but yet will affectionately always be, my city.

Which is why: i love: all things London

Thanks for stopping by, K x

“You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” 

Samuel Johnson