London: A Love-Hate Relationship

I'm back! Its been a long while since I last updated this blog - I only blame the fact that I didn't have any convenient access to the internet. But here is my stay in London in a nutshell:

I find myself complaining about London whenever I'm relating about my trip (except of course, to my English colleagues). "Everything is horribly expensive!" "It is sooo unsafe" "The tube is a total nightmare!" "The food tastes horrible!" "The service is so inefficient and slow!" "Everything closes early!" (Disclaimer: All these are based on my own humble opinions, which are based on my experiences, which are based on uncontrollable external circumstances, and hence, by no means representative of what you might think of London.)

Upon hearing all that, my listener would say, "So is there anything you like about London?" And I would be stumped. It would seem as if I didn't enjoy myself, but to be fair, there are things that I loved about London. Hence, I shall attempt my utmost to formulate the Top 3 Best things
about the city which annoyed and wooed me.


1. The People. Some of them. I always say that its the people that make up a place. Be it a country, company or school. And thus, your experience is very much influenced by your interactions with the people there.
The English are really friendly. Chatting with strangers is apparently a way of life. They are really helpful too - I only managed to hull 4 luggages to the airport through the tube and up flights of stairs with the help of the English.

One memory that would stay with me about my trip was that one evening, after a long day of training, I was sitting outside a supermarket waiting for my friends cos I was too tired to go in with them. It was cold and I was sitting on a bench slouched over and staring blankly into space. I can imagine that I must have looked quite depressed and miserable. To my utmost surprise, an old man came over and offered me his bottle of orange juice. He didn't say anything, only smiled and pushed the bottle to me. I could only laugh in embarrassment and told him it was alright. Now you must understand that this man wasn't a wealthy old man, but simply dressed in a rugged jacket and was actually also sitting on the benches having his dinner of sandwiches and juice from the supermarket. And as depressed as I had looked, I was actually professionally dressed on that day (it was the dress code for my training) in a suit and looked well capable of affording orange juice. There could only be one explanation: he thought I was depressed and decided to offer me what little he had, hoping that it would somehow make a difference. My heart swelled and I was greatly touched by this little gesture.

It reminds me of how we are all equal as human beings - regardless of how wealthy or poor we are, happiness and sadness does not discriminate and hence, we are never too poor to offer help, and we should never think of anyone being too rich to require help.

2. Portobello Market. I highly recommend this place. It's in Notting Hill. (This recommendation comes independent of the fact that one of my best loved movies is also of the same name, starring two of my best loved actors ever.) The market is a long stretch of road with food, shoes, clothes, accessories, toys and antiques stalls. The market is always bustling with people and activity and there is always a musician every few meters to greatly enhance the entire shopping experience. There are also street acts to keep people entertained. The food always looked appetizing - there are large, colourful fruits and vegetables, lovely pastries, aromatic hot-dog stands and crepes topped with chocolate and strawberries. There is also the odd fish-monger (which was not so pleasing to the nose). Tired? There are cafes to rest those tired feet. Although I never bought anything from the market besides the food, I loved walking down the stretch, checking out the stalls, watching the people and all the activity, and listening to the music, feeling really happy in bright, cheerful weather on Saturday mornings.

3. The parks. St James Park and Hyde Park in particular. There are many parks all over London. Coming from Singapore, these large open spaces of greenery was especially appealing for me. And in a hectic city like London, the tranquility and fresh air offers a refreshing hide-out. The parks are really huge - walking around them always made my legs tired and I never quite got around seeing the entire park. There are lots of deck-chairs and benches all over the parks, and just sitting down and watching the world go by is such a luxury. There are also ponds (where by Singapore's standards would be lakes) filled with pretty white swans and ducks, and flocks of birds flying over them. St James Park was really scenic with the trees and plants while the pond in Hyde Park was large with lots of activity.

There, the Top 3. I made it. (Top 5 would be ambitious)