It's really starting to get to me

Here I am again. I just wanted to blog a moment about how, now that it feels like my time in London is finite (although I have made no actual decisions about when I am leaving) I am starting to finally feel like London is my European home. I have moved out of the sensation of being a visitor who lives here and into the feeling that this city, in some small way, belongs to me.

I love London. It's totally true and it just sort of happened. I have always felt thrilled to live here, but now I am experiencing the sentiment that comes with attachment. I am not lost every second anymore. I know some train and tube routes without looking at the map. I am starting to see the city as a whole and I am feeling rather smitten. It's a spooky, gritty, high-class city with a strange energy that combines the modern and starkly urban with the classic and or classically arcane. It's Dickinson meets trending who falls in love with Audrey Hepburn who is best friends with Posh Spice. It's high heels 24/7 even if you're wearing leg warmers with skinny jeans. It's black with brown, scarves with short sleeves, skinny people everywhere with obesity as a big spin news headline. It's reality TV on the BBC, it's shoe repair shops in a place where you can also get a duplicate key made. It's a town that doesn't judge a girl for ordering a skinny mocha with whip cream. It has gross beef and incredible chicken. I can get to France by train in 2 hours and to Italy or Morocco by plane in 2 hours. It's social policies support gay marriage but do Jack for preventative social services. It is such an amazing place to live. The contradictions are enormous and observable and frustrating and yet, all of sudden, I find it all endearing. I don't know how I am going to leave here. Of course, I already know I can't stay. Time will tell me how to reconcile it all I'm sure, but for the moment, I thought I would share some very regular pictures of everyday London that illustrates (at least for me) what an extraordinary city this is. I am so, very lucky.


This is the view from my flat after the first winter snow fall.







Yep, it's a dog date on the train.


The Royal Courts of Justice is one of the most beautiful London buildings that I have experienced. Near by, the Bung Hole appears to be a fairly fancy lunch-spot with a wine bar. What could Bung Hole mean to the English? I laugh out loud every time I see it.


The River runs through the Paddington neighborhood. It's lovely. Just gorgeous.