๐ The Bright Lights of London
Since moving out of London 6 years ago and subsequently selling my flat there, I've only been back in the Big Smoke once, or maybe twice - to watch the tennis at Wimbledon. It's a place that I had never planned to live and once living there, couldn't imagine ever leaving. And now that I have the coastal life that I've always dreamed of, the idea of ever returning was a distant one.
But on Friday, some of my old course mates arranged to have drinks in Soho and I decided that I'd make an appearance with the thought that I'd be overwhelmed and would appreciate the tranquillity of Eastbourne even more.
Soho's just 2 stops on the Tube from London Victoria which almost always means it's walkable - in this case, a 30 minute walk past Buckingham Palace and the bright lights of Piccadilly Circus - so I decided to get a slightly earlier train and do a spot of sight seeing. At least that way, if I don't enjoy the drinks and Soho, I'd have had a nice walk.
My 1st site was Buckingham Palace - the former residence of the Queen of England. After the recent death of her husband, Prince Philip, she decided that the place was a bit big to be looking after now and decided to downsize, moving to Windsor Castle.
Just next to this, is the Victoria Memorial.
I continued my journey through Green Park and despite it being pitch black, remembered many occasions that I'd spent in, or walking through this park and despite having not grown up in London, I felt at home. I expected to feel overwhelmed, but I felt like I belonged here.
I continued my walk towards Soho. past the famous Ritz hotel...
...and had to stop outside Fortnum & Mason to double check that it was still mid-November.
Fortunately, it was too cold for anybody to decide to open a window.
Oh, and then the Maltese embassy reminded me that we're not in the EU any more, and that they are.
I continued my walk, the bright lights, the noise, the traffic, the impatient London residents all giving me a warm feeling. Passing places that I'd either visited on one of my more touristy days, or visited for a business meeting or night out.
๐ The National Gallery
I'd also visited at a time when the Christmas lights were turned on and despite me still believing it's November, I was able to enjoy them.
And eventually, I found my destination - The Blind Pig in Soho. Funnily enough, the entrance wasn't obvious and whilst stood outside confused, I was lucky that somebody who knew where they were going opened the door. I wondered if the "blind" in the name was their little joke.
It was a good night, and a great experience. I'm hoping it won't be long before I return and the bustling streets can capture my imagination once again.
It was a late night - the 1.5 hour train journey home adding to that and a sobering 25 minute walk up the hill to my home - accompanied by a fox.
All photos taken with my iPhone 5s
Most people prefer to live in big cities. There are more opportunities. But when I lived in Lviv for five and a half years, I was uncomfortable. It's too noisy in a big city, sometimes there's nothing to breathe, everyone is in a hurry somewhere ... I decided it wasn't really mine. I returned to the small town of Kalush.
And how do you feel about the fact that your country is no longer a member of the European Union?
It doesn't really bother me. When we voted to leave, I was a bit disappointed but having seen the way that the EU has behaved since, with other countries, I'm quite pleased that we did. Some of their laws are simply ridiculous and for the UK to be considered equal to France, Germany, Spain, Poland, etc. where we all have different cultural needs doesn't really make sense to me.
I didn't vote to leave but I wouldn't want us to return.
What's your view on it?
There are advantages and disadvantages in the European Union. The fact that there are no borders and economic cooperation is good. But this structure is very inert, it is not able to respond to serious challenges. Especially for security calls. This is confirmed by the situation on the border between Poland and Belarus. I think Poland will be left alone with the problem. All other EU countries will be "deeply concerned" and will impose sanctions that will not harm anyone.
I would like Europe to be united. But there is no unity there. There is a lot of politics in the European Union, one decision is discussed for months, and sometimes it is necessary to act immediately.
That is why I think it is good for Britain that it has left the European Union. The European Union has definitely gotten worse as a result.
Would I like Britain to be in the European Union. Probably would like to.
I share your view. The EU won't impose sanctions upon Belarus because of the flow of Gas through Belarus into the EU. Further increasing the tensions between Poland and the EU which are far worse than they've ever been between the UK and EU.
I'll miss the free movement. Prices will probably go up for us. We'll have to listen to the constant politics in the news when a fishing boat isn't allowed to go where it used to be allowed.
The EU is politics at its worse. We have enough bad British politicians, we don't need even more that don't understand our Country, meddling in our affairs.
It also doesn't help when EU members say "we need to make an example of the UK so that other countries don't leave". I think that the UK leaving is the beginning of the end for the EU.
When my mum voted for the UK to join the EU, they were voting for us to join a free trade community. Not a political behemoth that would begin to dictate our laws.
When the war with Russia began, the European Union was and remains "deeply concerned." Although the EU could have taken tougher action. And I'm not talking about military aid at all. I understand that no one will send their citizens to another's war. I'm talking about the economic levers of influence. The EU's inaction has freed Russia. And now the EU has a crisis at the border. The European Union will continue to be concerned, so in time Russia will ruin it.
I completely agree. He is doomed to fall apart even without outside help.
Imagine Portugal and Poland. Georgically they are very far away. Does the average Portuguese worry about Poland's problems on the bottom?
Will NATO help Poland? I do not think so. NATO was created not to fight.
I was under the impression that Russia was under more sanctions than every country other than North Korea - it's clear from what you say that they're ineffective.
I don't know much about Russia or the politics in the region - if I were to believe the British media, I would probably hate every Russian on this platform but propaganda is used relentlessly so that if/when a decision is made, it's supported by the masses. I always find it interesting that the countries that are disliked by the media, are the ones always accused of hacking. Even North Korea - who are all supposed to be too poor to buy a computer.
I don't understand the need for war. The need to invade another country because it has oil. It just fuels more hatred between warring countries that will never end. But so much in this world saddens me - I simply don't understand it. It's not just the EU that's falling apart, it's the entire global stability as demonstrated by the millions of people trying to escape whatever situation they're currently living in.
What I learned during the war years is that the official policy of the state and the people who live in that state are different things. There are people who do not support this policy, most are indifferent to politics in general. That is why we have no hatred for Russians. But this war left a deep wound.
I almost never talk about politics. People are much friendlier until they discuss politics or religion.
Me to. I do not understand at all.
Ha ha. This is so true. It's also the reason that I deleted my Facebook account. We had Brexit which some people felt so strongly about, that they would insult everybody who had the opposite opinion. The lies and pointless arguments that were had, none of which would change anything - fuelled by a blood-thirsty media, desperate for viewers at any cost.
Then we had Covid - which propagated its own lies and misinformation - everybody suddenly becoming a medical expert with their own advice. "it's the government trying to control you", "Rub your face in a dog's anus for 10 minutes per day and you'll become immune", etc.
On a talk show this morning, they had somebody arguing that the vaccination was more dangerous than remaining unvaccinated. I turned it off.
And platforms like Steemit allowing this type of misinformation to be spread. Speaking of which, (I'm going off-topic somewhat,) I read this the other day - https://www.dailydot.com/debug/qanon-steemit/ - Steemit being blamed for the popularity of QAnon and all of its crackpot conspiracy theories.
That sounds like a pleasant Friday night out in central London. The Blind Pig is just a fantastic choice. What I love about it is the atmosphere. It is not just another boring overpriced restaurant which the area is packed with anyways. I love the crazy cocktails and the impeccable service. I went there to get the evening started and then carried on actually having tea at Andrew Edmunds restaurant. Maybe you have already been there too? Green Park feels like home to me as well. The afternoon tea at the Ritz is like a conveyor belt, definitely not worth it unless you have just arrived in England and you have no clue about what you are missing on.
We only went to the bar bit at the top - which felt overpriced (2 options for bottles of beer - one ยฃ6.25, the other ยฃ7.50 - a crate of 12 costing roughly the same price). It felt a bit cramped to me and still being a bit worried about Covid, it took me a while to accept my Covid-fate and feel comfortable.
Andrew Edmunds restaurant doesn't ring any bells but names have never been my strong suit ๐ We went to 2 other bars afterwards and I don't have a clue what either of them were called. One was on the corner opposite "Jazz @ Pizza Express" - where Mr Mayor (Sadiq Kahn) was tucking into a pizza ๐
I've never been into the Ritz - it's got a reputation for Afternoon Tea but afternoon tea's overpriced everywhere so I can't imagine it being good value for money!
I am a big fan of him actually and maybe he is who I voted for earlier this year ๐ I volunteered for the summer reading challenge at my local library, before COVID of course. The initiative which you might have heard of encourages kids to read more books. Then they come to the library to speak to somebody like me about what they read, answer few questions and receive a sticker which they have a whole album for. Once they read six books, they even get a certificate with their name on and I used to make it as special as possible by standing up and giving them a massive round of applause together with whoever else is in the library at that minute. I am sure that some of the adults who just happened to be there at the time loved it ๐ So at the end of the challenge prior to the start of the school year we all had a meeting with Sadiq Khan who turned out to be very friendly and quite good with the children too.
I try to avoid politics as much as possible now but I've heard good things about Sadiq Khan. The person I sat next to at work campaigned for him some time ago and I think it shows that he's still kept his feet on the floor since coming into prominence.
The "book club" sounds very rewarding. What age group was it aimed at?
The book club was for kids aged between 4 and 11. Some of the children were quite shy at the start of the reading challenge but soon gained more confidence in talking about what they read. The kids were really incredible at simplifying the plot and they easily managed to see themselves as one or more of the characters. They were also quite good at interpreting what they read and giving examples based on their family and daily routine.
That sounds really cool and a great group of ages to be working with. the-toddler-gorilla loves his books and I sometimes just make up a story instead of reading the real one. Or change one of the characters to be him or the-mrs-gorilla. He now points at the picture below and says "that mummy" (not the cat) ๐คฃ
๐ Does the-mrs-gorilla know about this? I am sure that it is to do with her super powers ๐ Still I guess I would have been tempted to hide the book for a while till he forgets this ๐งโโ๏ธ It is awesome that you make up stories for the-toddler-gorilla. Usually adults are too busy. He is lucky to have you. I still have a childhood memory of my grandmother falling asleep while reading me a story. I bet she was tired from work. She was a teacher and probably read a lot to her class earlier that day. I really look forward to reading your story based on @bambuka's childhood challenge. If you have an Alexa device in your house she also has quite good stories and you just need to ask her to tell you one. For holidays and special occasions even interactive stories are released. There was a fun penguin tale for Valentine's Day this year. So you can just listen carefully, answer questions when asked and make your very own story. The penguin always ended up in a bit of trouble and messed up a lot but it was fun.
the-gorilla-mother-in-law was here when I first introduced the idea. I tried to change the-toddler-gorilla's mind but he kept returning to the-mrs-gorilla being the witch. I shouldn't laugh - but I do.
I'm looking forward to Bambuka's challenge but I've struggled to make time to enter competitions recently. I've struggled to interact much beyond replying to messages and keeping on top of my Fantasy Sports posts. So I think I'll fail to make time. Which is a shame.
We don't have Alexa but that is a good reason to get one ๐
There's always so much to see in London. I've done the city life and loved it in my twenties, but as you get older and have children, a quieter country life is much better and for me is a far better place to bring up a family.
I hope you had a good catch up session with the lads in Soho ๐๐ป๐ฅ
I was very surprised by how I felt. I enjoyed living in London but had never planned to be there - I certainly wouldn't consider it to raise my children (and I wouldn't have half of the money required to buy a house big enough!) But having visited, I thought "the-toddler-gorilla would love this with all of the lights". As I came out of Victoria Station, there were the big lights advertising the musical Wicked and for the first time, I could imagine myself bringing the-toddler here for a day.
It was pretty cool and there was a gentle throbbing in my head for the last 2 days!
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