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A stranger in town

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By Helen Lee Gray
People often ask ‘do you miss London’, the truth is no.   But I do miss my friends, I miss going to the pub, it being busy, I miss the boutique shops and I miss good steak and chips.   That’s why visiting is the very best cure for a little London Saudade (a Portuguese word which they say has no translation into English, but here is an attempt)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade

Being a tourist in your old town is great and with the amount of development going in in Old London Town at the moment I felt like a stranger in town (well a stranger that knew the short cut into Covent Garden at least).   

When I visited London recently my family decided to do a Big London Bus Tour.  It was a great way to see the sites, to avoid the walk around town in the very warm spring sunshine and spend some time with my family. 

The City is changing out of all recognition, the building work has gone off the scale.  It used to be the Gerkin was the biggest thing in the sky, but now we have the Shard, Cheese-grater and Can of Ham (who comes up with these names?) which are taking over.   


The South Bank is completely different, where are all those skater boys under the arches these days?    

What is that huge thing in the sky near Vauxhall?   

The building work at home is on a less grand scale and there is certainly less use of black glass.  It's taking its time though but the roof should be finished today, then another few weeks before the builders get it all done.  Then horror of horrors, I  have to wait until it dries out before I can paint it - no one told me about this, I thought we'd be in there by June.


The best thing about London right now is the return of the Route Master bus I have very fond memories of the number 22 to Putney taking me along the Kings Road.   Back here in Pera there are just two busses a day - one to take the kids to school, then another to bring them home, it's not the greatest service in the world, but  it just might be the friendliest as the whole bus load waves at me as I walk past with the dog each morning!
 




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