Damned strange place London; some things seem wildly futuristic to my simple Northern eyes while other things seem to be outdated. The newer buildings, the fashions, the speed at which everything moves are most strange, yet I can’t remember the last time I saw the Hare Krishna mob out on the streets of a northern city, but there they were down that London like it was 1970 again.
That’s not the only contradiction either. It’s so urban, yet wildlife seems to thrive. We were sat having a coffee amidst a maelstrom of human activity yet above us a pair of Peregrine Falcons were going through their courtship rituals as if they were on the remotest of moorlands.
It’s so expansive, but I always seem to see familiar faces. If you know as few people as me, you wouldn’t expect to see anyone you know whilst casually wandering around Westminster surrounded by trillions of strangers, yet out of the blue there was Becky Hall.
The big build up is underway now that the registration thing has been done. Liz collected my number last year so this was my first experience of the Expo; it was OK, but nothing special. I used to be pretty good at acquiring freebies at exhibitions, but I came away with very little of any worth.
Travelling across London afterwards was bizarre. Usually everyone assiduously avoids eye contact, but there was a strange tribe out and about today. We identified each other by our red bags and although there wasn’t exactly bonhomie or conspirational nods, there was at least some acknowledgement of other human beings.
Traipsing round London was darned tiring and I’m feeling a wee bit trepidatious. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to collect the race number and chip and then put the marathon out of my mind with another day at work. I should be able to better keep the growing anxiety under control before returning to our wonderful capital city.
No comments:
Post a Comment