London
Bombs exploded in London the day I was due to arrive. A dreary Thursday saw four suicide bombers
board three tube trains and one bus, each heading in the direction of a compass
orientation. I hardly need tell you
what followed - a symbolic dissection and literal crucifixion that left 52
dead, many more wounded and a hitherto seemingly indestructible city, reeling. For the first time in known history, London was closed.
The following day I moved to a new city with a boy that I loved, fresh from our adventures in Sydney. But here, we were surrounded by chaos and noise, barely protected by the skinny walls of our “young
professionals” apartment that resembled all the other characterless blocks around it. The pressures of living in a part of the city that was still rife with racial tension, trapped in a shoe box and without the beautiful backdrop of the
Antiopodes soon started to take their toll. Alongside this, our desires were rapidly diverging. Unsurprisingly,
we parted company. And thus began my adventures in London.
The past 6 years have been a riot of curating, communal living, media whoredom, art, old friends, new friends, whiskey, warehouse parties, burlesque dancing, bicycle riding, hula hooping, rock and roll singing, 1950s tea drinking, occupied spaces, records, classical music, ephemeral love affairs, canals, industrial landscapes, life affirming moments, vintage cars, gas cylinders, meditation, real ale, oysters, flower markets and many, many drunken Sunday lunches with a melange of colourful, creative characters. A career in the TV broadcasting industry has taken me to Cannes, New York, Dubai, Nashville Tennessee, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Zurich, Bratislava, Stockholm - and that's not even mentioning the fabulous places I've travelled to in my spare time - Cuba and Argentina being highlights.
The first few years as a (mostly) single girl living in the big smoke were characterised by liberation and optimism. However, in recent times, I have become tired of some things this big, beautiful and occasionally excruciating city has to offer. And you know what they say, when you're tired of London....
So, I have decided that now is the time to move on - to step away from the sex, drugs and TV execs I encounter almost daily in media and the visually appealing but often vacuous imagery of the East end - and swap all this for a life-changing adventure in the Far East.
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