Everything in its Place

Bookshop, Charing Cross Road

I love that London has lots of neat little areas where you can find things. For example, if you were looking for bookshops, Charing Cross Road is the place to go. There is also a little side street that sells guitars. When Lauch and I went shopping for my engagement ring, we went to Hatton Gardens - because that's the diamond area. And it's not just one block of shops either - Hatton Gardens is several blocks solid of glittering diamond paradise. Brick Lane for curry - although Ealing and Wembley are big areas for curry too. The West End for theatre. West London for Australians.




When you get to know the areas, you get to know certain things that happen there, like there is Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park - where anyone can get up on a soapbox (literally they stand on a box) and make speeches about whatever they're passionate about to the passers-by. And there are the Hari Krishnas - I'm always seeing them at about 6pm, dancing along Oxford St and then down Charing Cross Road singing "Hari hari hari..." They sound so cheery. (They're in the photo above left).


Chinatown at night - right near Soho

Lots of big cities have little areas of things, but London does it specially well because it's just had such a long time for things to evolve.