London Lusts

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I've a perpetual dose of Wanderlust. Anything that involves me leaving Galway and exploring new places I'm usually on top of and eager to participate in.

For years now I've had a passionate, lust driven, unrequited relationship with London.

I. Love. London.

London is without a doubt my favourite city in the world, so far anyway! 

Recently my Mam and I went on a quick overnight trip to London for a meeting. I was consumed with excitement and while I was supposed to be studying I couldn't concentrate on anything but what we were going to do when we landed and all the things we were going to see. I managed to plan for us to do far too much because I seemed to have forgotten that we were only there for a night.

My mother has never really quite understood my love and infatuation with London. She lived just outside London in Kent for years and she always maintains that London is the last place in the world she'd live.

On our way to the airport I was getting increasingly excited and in an, unsuccessful, attempt to calm me down she asked what exactly it was I loved about London.

I love night lights. I'm  one hundred percent terrified of the dark and all that lies within it but London is constantly lit up. Not only is it lit up but it looks so beautiful when night falls and the night lights come on.

My best friend lives in Romford and this is, of course, another huge reason I love visiting London. I only see her two or three times a year so if I get to go to London the cherry on the top of the whole visit is getting to see her.

She claims that everything is so different in London from Ireland. Something you'd expect I suppose but she says that for two islands that are so close she can't get over the extent of the difference in our cultures, the way we socialise and how people interact with one another. In Jamie's words "..you'd bloody love it... you'd fit right in here". There's something about the way we do things in my little town that I hate, and anyone who knows me knows this. She insists that when I move over, I'll be happier than I have ever been here.

When I was in London a taxi driver asked me if I heard anyone speak english when I was on Oxford Street, I told him that I hadn't really noticed and he told me to listen out the next time that I wouldn't hear any english. This is something I love. It's something Ireland is beginning to accept, slowly, very slowly, but it's smething that Londoners have had to embrace already and I love it. The diversity. Knowing that you could go out for a night and run into someone from any nationality. You could spend the day working with people from Greece, London or Austria. You can learn so much about different cultures and hey, the more friends you have around the world the more places you have to stay when you go travelling.

The one thing my Mam hates the most about London is that everyone's always in a rush, she maintains that everyone is pretending they have somewhere important to be and something important to do but it's all a front. I, on the other hand, adore this. Sometimes  I feel at home, we're moving so slow we're nearly going backwards. So many people are just happy to go along in a life that was already laid out for them or that they fell into. In London I feel like everyone is chasing their dreams when they run through the underground, I feel like I'm in good company. In my opinion, there's a constant sense that opportunity is knocking and if you're fast enough and smart enough you'll be able to grab it with both hands and live the life you imagined.

                                             

In London I feel like no matter what you want to be, be it an artist selling their works on the side of the river á la Paris or the managing director of a record company, the opportunity and the chance is there. If you look hard enough you'll see it skulking through the Underground or cycling through Hyde Park simply waiting for you to notice it and follow it to where you're meant to be. This is my favourite part about London. It's fulk of opportunity. There's always a chance to do something different and everytime I'm there I feel like I'm on the cusp of changing my life.