My exciting affair

London beckons to me when i am not there. Whether i am in E&C or Bromley, i yearn for the embrace of the city. She has become a special lady-friend - an intriguing older woman with worldly experience, and beauty and ugliness in equal measures. For every crowded, smelly tube ride there is a sunny stroll down a peaceful avenue, nestled between tall trees and taller Victorian apartments. For every jostling stranger on the pavement on Bishopsgate, there is a quiet seat at the front of a bus with a view of the whole street, making me feel happy and far away from the crowds. For every filthy 1960s office block with cement rendering and low ceilings, there's a redbrick monstrosity from the 1860s with huge windows and tall chimneys.

She offers me treasures and amazing experiences with a blasé shrug, as if to say "Spanish DJs performing on the back of a truck in Exhibition Road? Oh, that's just a regular weekend", or "Say, how about coming to see the latest Yoko Ono art exhibition this afternoon? If you want" or "Nobody else wanted this beautiful red vintage mac - i think you'll like it though." She teases me as i stare open-mouthed at the sights she offers me every day, every week - the street performers and exhibitions, the free samples handed out for no reason, the arts and handcrafts in shops and markets. She laughs at my wonderment and shrugs "Hey, that's what i do."

Cannon Street, preparing for the Olympics road cycle race
(St Pauls in the background)

She is so expansive and far-reaching, yet she seems small and accessible. She is both friendly and aloof. I want to get to know her more, I want to spend more time with her. Every time i feel like i know her a little better, she surprises me again, shows me a new part of her personality, and i feel she is a stranger again. I feel so at home at times, and such an outsider at others. It is an exhausting relationship, but the best ones often are.

I couldn't spend my life with London. But the impression she has left on me will be something i carry with me forever. I intend to get to know her even better in the months we have left together. And who knows, i may come back to visit one day.