I go to London periodically. I enjoy being there for a day and generally take the sleeper down and back to maximise the time I am able to spend and people I am able to see. I attend a regular committee where I am one of only two Scottish attendees - the other is far higher powered than me. There is no doubt I am a hick. The others emerge from the tube out of the City; many of them seem to work in businesses that allow them to concentrate on the sort of policy issues the committee deals with; they see each other at similar committees; they have firm positions on things; they are a pretty impressive crowd. I emerge sleep deprived from the train with my pyjama's poking out of my briefcase; my business encourages my attendance but I am conscious of the cost of doing so and rush around trying to fit other London things in round about it; I rarely have firm views on the matters being discussed and many of them would be a mystery to my clients; everyone is kind about the effort I make to get there, but I am not sure they understand it. Today I am behind with my work and have blisters - I am therefore not sure I understand it either.
There are compensations - yesterday rather then take the sleeper down I caught the first train. The GNER East Coast route remains a civilised journey - at least for the first hour or so I pass through places I know and like - even glimpsing them from a speeding train reminds me that they are there. The London train is one of the few places I can work, uninterrupted for four hours, and be served a decent breakfast. To have done all of that and travel 350 miles, all before 10.00 am is good. The sleeper home allows me to have dinner in London with friends. My London geography is dire. Yesterday I forgot my A-Z. Looking for Victoria (close to where we were having dinner) I walked to Waterloo. On the day of the 7/7 bombings I set off on foot, blindly believing in my ability to walk from Mayfair to Wimbledon - I have never been so pleased to see a taxi and regarded the £45 fare a bargain. Why I walk so many miles in London I do not understand as the public transport system is fantastic - tomorrow I am going walking in the Lake District, assuming my blisters will let me.
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2 comments:
The last time I was in London was in the 90's! I have to admit I prefer the peace & quiet of rural Northumberland. A visitor in one of my holiday cottages said to me the other day how beautiful the Lake District is compared to Northumberland! I suppose everyone's entitled to their opinion.
I suppose so, and people do tend to get dug in over their own preferences, but I struggle to think of views anywhere which are more beautiful than (a) that towards the Cheviots from the Belford to Fowberry road; and (b) the strech of beach at Ross, puncuated at either end by Lindisfarne and Bamburgh Castles. Both have the advantage over the Lakes of being almost deserted.
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