A visit back in London after 3.5 years

First impressions

It has been 3.5 years since I last left London.  I was really excited to see what the city was like after living there for two years.

So much memories have come back to me, prompted by the little things.

I remember the first time I walked up the stairs of Kings Cross St. Pancras – it was the first time going ‘above ground’ after braving the Underground for the first time wearing heels and lugging two pieces of luggage with me.  I was both tired from my long flight from Australia and delirious that I had finally made it in London. After a bit of wandering around, I stayed at a nearby hotel, had breakfast and I remember my first jetlagged ‘night’ waking up at midnight.

When I walked down familiar paths, I remember thinking that the image I had kept in my memory was different to the real thing.  I remember the first time walking to work at Regent’s Park after my first night in an apartment in St John’s Wood, with the sun shining through, giving the nearby apartments this dreamy, creamy colour.  And yet, as I traced what would have been my usual path from my old workplace back to my old apartment in St John’s Wood the reality of it had changed. There was the traffic to contend with, the walk was longer than I thought going past blocks of apartments and there was none of that dreamy, morning light as it was late in the afternoon.

My visit to London felt like it was just a visit, as if it had not been that long since I left.  There were some new sights, but nothing much has changed.  I think that the major changes have all happened within me.  The way I experienced London on my recent visit was just so different to how I first experienced the city nearly six years ago.

My visit in London was pretty low key.  I didn’t really have any particular agenda but I was pretty happy that I was able to see the city again after a few years being away.

Would I move back to London again?

I wouldn’t cancel moving back to London entirely out of my mind, but I am not really in a rush to go back.  The situation in the city today is completely different to what it was like when I lived there.  The biggest one being Brexit.  I’d rather just wait and see to see how things play out.  One thing that has changed is that since I was renting an apartment in Notting Hill, catching public transport and not really doing a lot of ‘tourist’ things I got an idea of what it would have been like to go back and live there again.


Frieze Art Fair 2017 and sculptures in the park

Unfortunately, I arrived on the last day so I was not able to experience Frieze London and Frieze Masters again. However, I saw in the programme that they now have sculptures in Regent’s Park which was an excellent way for more members of the public to view the works.


Day trip to Oxford

I missed out on visiting Oxford so decided to go again. You can easily catch the GWR which is part of the National Rail network and walk to Oxford Castle and the various colleges that are part of Oxford University.