I stepped up onto surface from the underground on the other day and looked around Oxford Circus and the first thing that came to my mind was, 'Is that it?' I remembered the buildings being so much taller. It had such a provincial feel to it. Maybe I just got used to all those skyscrapers in Shibuya and Shinjuku. That said, even in Yamagata they built up, and they had all the perspective of the mountains from the basin to fight with there.
I'm on Queenstown Road, near Battersea Park, after a relatively brief period as itinerant floor space occupant in Stoke Newington (North) and Vauxhall (South). I can see the overland train rattle past from the 2F kitchen window. 10 years ago I stayed on this road a few doors down, in my sister's place. I walked to Harrods and back every day for a month for a summer job. One day it rained hard on the way back so I waited out the wet under a railway bridge. Now I ride the train over that bridge to work.
Streets here have precious few convenience stores, or electric stores, or jidohanbaiki vending machines. Rows of residential even right in the centre of town. I met an old friend in the pub on last Saturday and we took a walk later on across the bridge sandwiched in between the Eye and the houses of Parliament. I don't know the names of the bridges yet.
As we walked along, my friend said to me, 'People spend a lot of money to come here. And here we are'.
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