London: pubs, parks and a dining table

“Paris is a woman but London is an independent man puffing his pipe in a pub.”, Jack Kerouac wrote in his Lonesome Traveler. When reading this quote on two of Europe’s greatest cities one feels almost obliged to re-enact the stereotype so delicately stated by mister Kerouac (he’s a writer, so definitely an authority worth following). So I took it to heart to be as much of a stereotype as possible. That somehow always seems to reassure people… I didn’t go as far as changing sex to reach my stereotypical goal, nor did I get hooked on tobacco, but I did try to hold op my end and showed some serious independence while ordering my English beer (against all of my Belgian principles) in the local pub!

Every time you go to London you live it in a different way. The city has so much to offer that it’s close to impossible to get bored of it, especially if it stops raining (atypical London!) and the spring goddesses decide to grant us, terrestrials, a bit of early sunshine! Strolling in one of the many green parks is what you ought to do on one of those rare occasions! Going for a run, music in your ears and all of London to overlook in its most green, most natural way. Escaping the city while never having left it. Observing daily life in all of its simple and self-evident beauty. Moms tiring themselves in yoga class while baby is fast asleep in the middle of the London meadow (free of dog phecies those green landscapes, so no danger for baby), morning runners making good resolutions for the day that just started, old ladies chatting away, their talk outdoing the beautiful twitter of the birds that didn’t migrate South for winter (the true Londoners!), lonesome hearts contemplating life overlooking the park’s river, eager young boys playing hockey continuously interrupting their game to engage in fierce discussions about the rules they just made up and already consider unquestionable laws… Old and young, Londoner and foreigner, man and animal, they all come together in the parks of the the city. So yes, the park – for me this time Battersea Park – always a good place to get to know the natural spirit of the place your in!

London is as traditional as it’s international. The true English spirit is all around, in the architecture of its little houses, a bit crooked and smashed together – in your wildest imagination they really do look like a Tim Burton movie -, in the flow of the Cockney rhyming slang, in the ambiance of the many pubs, in the gastronomic calorie bombs you have to try while in  town, in the umbrellas that usually shape the London skyline. In short, you immediately know you’ve set foot in the Queen’s territory. The English spirit stands strong in the middle of the exciting melting pot London has become over the years. Every race, every nationality you can find here in the capital of the UK. Disney’s “It’s a small world” come to life. Well, a less scary scary version of the gathering of too many dancing puppets portraying children with shrill voices, happily engaged in compulsory chanting, I might add. The English tradition blended with influences from all over our great green/blue planet, that’s the strength of this city! That’s what makes it so intriguing, what you keep coming back for, why it never stops surprising you, why you come to love it almost instantly!

The international character of London is everywhere. In the multi-language neon lighting of its shops, in the internationally coloured chitchat on the tube, in the composition of the guests around a dinner table. Take my dining table for example. Total amount of guests: 5. Number of continents represented: 2. Number of nations represented: 4 (Belgium (yes!), Italy, Spain, USA). Right in front of the intriguing Battersea Power Station (Pink Floyd found it so inspirational it became the cover of their Animals album) our international company was having dinner and chatting away. And what to talk about with such a beautiful variety of human beings? Well, food for one (we had a small majority of Italians at the table, the subject was bound to come up), the arms act (yes, the audacity to start such an explosive subject over food), hilarious cultural differences and much more once the beer started flowing… Political discussions, worldly conversation and laughter were rounded up with what united all of us, what brought us together there on that cozy winter night that already seemed more like spring, in front of that magnificent power station: our shared love for London!