Reflections on the first 2 weeks

With my job hunting complete (more on this later in the week) and my work yet to start it is an opportune time to reflect on my first two weeks in London.

The thing that I have particularly enjoyed is the fact that it is impossible to forget for long that you're living in a city brimming with History - it is very possible to stumble across famous landmarks without requiring any planning at all. In a 24 hour period I stumbled across the Princess Diana memorial fountain while I was out for a jog, and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Trafalgar Square because I decided to walk between two tube stops to meet Sarah for lunch instead of changing trains.

I think that this is because the centre of the city (by this I mean everything within the circle line, not just the Square Mile) is surprisingly compact, something you don't realise until you start walking between tube stations instead of catching the tube. I've realised recently that the density of history I've been noticing is not just because of the mass of history but because of some quite small distances in London CBD.

I've become so used to going underground and popping up in a completely different place, with no idea whether I was going as far as an average bus-stop gap or as far as Sydney stations can be. With only the hypnotic motion of the carriage to give you any sense of motion during the trip you lose track of distance...but it turns out that many places are actually quite close together.

While based on my tube journey Paddington felt like it was miles from the city, less than five minutes jogging put me on the northern edge of Hyde Park, and suddenly it felt like I was in the middle of everything again. I'm still thrilled every time I see another thing from a book and think 'oh, yeah - I'm in London!'

But at the same time as I'm really excited about seeing all of these things and places, it has really hit me that there vast gaps in my knowledge of history, particularly 18th and 19th century England. It was when I realised that I didn't particularly know why Wellington was famous and what Waterloo meant that I decided I really must learn this stuff to properly appreciate what is around me.

If someone out there knows a good way to learn it, please tell me :P

Anyway, sorry about so many words without pictures...we're off being tourists tomorrow so we will rectify that soon :)