There and Back Again

Listening to: Long Legs (The Magic Numbers)
Pondering: We’ll try to stay blind to the hope and fear outside. Hey child, stay wilder than the wind and blow me in to cry. (Duran Duran, Come Undone)

Today, I have come to realize that London has lost its charm for me. I don’t know if it’s because of the time of the year I picked to come. I have never been here in the summer so this horrible muggy weather - at its worst on board the Underground tunnel - is new to me. It is also near the end of the tourist season and the streets are swarming with more tourists than usual.

Is it because I have been here many times before and I have done the usual touristy things you have to do when you are here? I have been to most of the must-do day trips. It’s a waste to spend 60 pounds ($120) to do a trip twice. I say twice because the Bath, Stonehenge trip I went to two days ago was a repeat for me.

Is it maybe because 2 weeks is too long a trip? I should have split it to London and Paris like I did last time. Or maybe London and Switzerland or London and Scotland even.

Then again, maybe it’s because the city has changed or maybe because I have changed since the last time I was here. People here rush around a lot and it’s not even because they are late for something. It’s because the pace of the city dictates their being. That used to be fine with me, used to be fascinating but now I think it ridiculous and sad. Call it old fashion but I come from the “slow down and smell the roses” school of thought. There is much to see in the world, much to experience. You rush for no reason and you will miss it. The next thing you know the world has passed you by and left you behind.

I still love London. I appreciate its diversity, its history and its beauty. But I guess it will be awhile until I return again for a holiday. Maybe if I wait many years in between before my next visit, I’ll have changed - or the city will have changed - and there will be loads of new things to discover.