As my hometown London invokes a lot of memories, some good and
some bad. It was the place that I grew up in and the place that I spent a
large part of my life living in. When people ask where I am from I always
reply "London". Never, "England", or "the
U.K". I've not been to any place anywhere else in the world that has
the uniqueness of London. The cultural diversity, the food, the places
you can visit, the history.
When I lived in London I went past Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral
and Tower Bridge so many times that I would barely take any notice of them.
This time I did, and I also took notice of people from all over the world
that had come to see the places that I had taken for granted. Often, when
I was teaching, my pupils would ask me about London and tell me how much they
would love to see Big Ben. It was this that brought home to me that I
grew up in such an iconic city that people all over the world dream of going
to, and for most of them it would be nothing more than a dream.
To the rest of the world, to all the tourists, it's all these
places that define London. The famous pictures you see printed on
t-shirts across the world. The ubiquitous British flag. To them
this is London. For those that live there though there is so much more to
London.
When I go back to London it's the memories and the feelings that I
love. Just walking down a certain road can bring so much flooding back.
I miss the autumn evenings, walking along streets with piles of leaves
everywhere. Watching squirrels collect the conkers that have fallen from
the trees. The misty rain on dark winter evenings as I came home from
school. Even the freezing cold winter mornings as the sun comes up in the
pale blue sky.
Walking along Abbey Road the memories of kids in my class standing
up to tell the teacher what they were going to do at the weekend and how they
were going to go to Gary Lineker's house and get his autograph. Then
they'd start arguing because, of course, only one person could go to Gary
Lineker's house and get his autograph.
Walking back down towards Maida Vale and Paddington Rec I
remembered going to the park with my dad to play football on cold Saturday
mornings. I remembered the two tower blocks you could see in the
distance. Abandoned because of asbestos, standing there for years
completely empty. As a kid my imagination would run wild thinking what
you could do in a couple of abandoned tower blocks.
As I was on Oxford Street I was a kid again on a dark December
day. All the Christmas shoppers out. Mum having taken me down to
Oxford Street to see the lights and to do some Christmas shopping. At the
time a trip to Oxford Street seemed like going a million miles away even though
it was 20 minutes away on the bus.
The late nights sat outside of a random person's house in the
summer smoking hash. Playing football until it was too dark to see the
ball but not wanting to go home because you all enjoyed each other's company.
Spending hours talking nonsense in the warm summer nights. Looking
forward to the next day as you walked home because you knew you'd do it all
again tomorrow.
There was even some nostalgia for the bad times. The times
when I was sick, the times when I could barely walk, sweating, shaking and
tired but still managed to make it to a shop. Going on missions to the
other side of London just to get what you need. Sitting on tubes with
people staring at you in pity. Nowhere brings up those memories like
being in London.
All places change, people come and go from your life. You
lose people that you love, you regret things that you've done but they always
fade into memories. The places, the people, the feelings, the people you
wish were still here. For all the places I've been to there is no place
like London that brings it all up. Some of the memories are sad, some are
happy but none of them are ones that I want to lose.
