Iden

LOOKING IN ON LONDON: Last week, I ventured up to London, up to the smoke, and I was excited, because although I love Iden, I still feel the need to check London out now and again. For me, it’s charm has always been it’s anonymity. People in London can choose whether to hide away, or step forward and present themselves. It’s such a sea of contradictions isn’t it? I saw a smartly –dressed business type sharing the pavement with another in garish garb, pierced and tattooed with impunity wherever there was a vacant patch of skin [It always makes me wonder if these folk ever wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and want their skin back just the way it was!] A man in a long, frayed overcoat hunted for cigarette butts, and called out gibberish to people he was not even acquainted with. . Whether in company, or alone, all of us become part of the ‘mural’ that is London. Tourists, taxi drivers theatre –goers, and people strolling hand in hand in Hyde Park merge seamlessly into it’s canvas. Blending into the grey structure of London’s walls allows us to view it without feeling accountable, because London is so open to any kind of idiosyncrasy.. London hides people. It’s capable of swallowing us whole, releasing us only when we say the word. It captures and surrenders in equal measure. The very word ‘London’ conjures up a cornucopia of entirety. Every turn is a different tableau. It’s a hotchpotch of extremes that dares us to define it in any way shape or form. It’s gloriously cultured, yet seedy, shocking, quirky and oh- so cosmopolitan .Smoky nooks and crannies are packed full of people spilling out onto pavements .Open doorways release the smell of beer and pizza and a good time. Fun, and laughter are rife, but the city reeks of loneliness too .London takes everyone on board, accommodating the lonely as readily as it accepts the gregarious. It takes the sad and the uncertain under it’s wing like an unpaid carer. I came back to Iden, and stepped out into a quiet