The combination of thrill and fear is what attracts me to it, just like other things I’ve done in my life; bungee jumping, sky diving, leaving everything and everyone behind to travel across the globe – all scary but exciting. When I first left Malta five and a half years ago I so wished I’d move straight to the capital however, faith decided to take me on a round-about way starting from West Berkshire in the UK to Africa then Asia, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand then back to the UK in Reading (still in Berkshire) and now finally, London. It is here that I now live, play, work and soon-to-be a student again.
I love it. Ok, it’s only been two months since I moved here so I suppose I’m still my honeymoon period. What do I like about it? Well, for starters being the largest metropolitan city in Europe, it’s like being in another country or many of them actually, only a doorstep away. About a third of the 7.5 million population is not born in UK so the City lives and breeds a fusion of diverse nationalities and with them cultures. I just love to stroll along the markets, smelling and tasting the food, feast my eyes on colourful clothes and artefacts and listen to some of the three hundred spoken languages.
There’s always somewhere to go and something do in London; watching a play or musical, visit exhibitions of fashion, art, attend religious or traditional ceremonies, go for walks or a cycle and picnic in parks, to dancing salsa and partying. I’ve so far enjoyed most and look forward to so much more. But probably one of the best things is meeting its inhabitants who hail from all corners of the world. I’m making a habit of attending events to meet people with similar interests or in similar professions, then chat for hours over a drink, or perhaps two.
Being overpopulated the City let’s its steam out in various ways. ‘Welcome to The Big Smoke’ I was told when I first got here. Since demand is greater than supply everything and every inch of it is pricey. What you pay is worth the space you occupy not the space you’re in. Men in black ties accompanied by diamond-dazzling dames, walk out from the theatre into its streets where homeless ask for their spare change. The rich mingle with the poor as each live in the City of their dreams. As a sage once told me, every prize has a price tag to it.
Ultimately, you get what you put into it and that’s what makes London.
