One More Day in London
I have one more day remaining in London. One day left of the current contract. In a bizarre twist of fate, the person I have been both working with, and mentoring for the last few weeks is not going to be in the office, so I'll just be writing documentation, and tying up loose ends.
I'm not sure if I looked back on my previous commuting adventures through rose tinted glasses, or if I was just lucky to work in a more interesting part of London before, but I didn't enjoy it as much this time. Of course I'm basing these judgements on three months experienceshardly enough time to get to known anybody reallyand I haven't got to know anybody.
I was talking to my father-in-law about the two years I spent working in London during 2007 and 2008, and have come to realise that I was incredibly lucky. I worked in the heart of the cityjust around the corner from Spittalfield's Market. I walked the same alleyways that Jack the Ripper had frequented on my way to and from the office each day. I found parks to sit and each lunch within a few minutes walk of the office. Victoria had none of those things.
The area around Victoria is filled with vast, characterless concrete office buildings. Just down from the sprawling railways station you find the Grosvenor Hotel, with top-hatted footmen waiting patiently on the steps. A little further along the Buckingham Palace Road lies Collonade Walkan overgrown conservatory filled with a truly bizarre mixture of shops.
At the end of the road, the vast sprawl of Hyde Park stretches out of sight. I had to walk across it during the tube strike in January, and blistered both feet. On a summer day, the park is wonderfulif the chance had presented itself, I would have wandered to the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. On a January morning in the rain not quite so wonderful.
Perhapswith tomorrow being my final dayif the sky is clear I should leave early, and make time to wander through the park again. Pay that visit to Peter Pan. Pretend I never grew up.