I HEART LONDON

I LOVE LONDON....

I have never felt that more than I did last week. Each day proved to be another 'London blessing' as I wondered around the capital on my various journeys.

The first of my blessings occurred on Tuesday evening. Whilst waiting for a friend to finish work, I wandered around bored, slowly becoming aware of the way in which the streets come alive with the help of a little warm weather and a few classy bars. I noticed the street vendor, playing buckets for drums. The vendor and his saxophone playing chum together provided the soundtrack for my evening of wandering. The sound of their music literally sailing through the night air. It sounds cliche, but the feeling I got was an undeniable love for London, an uncontaminated sense of carefreeness. The fact that they were impressively talented was hugely independent of, yet key to, the fact that they were busking.

The city workers, in the midst of their early evening drinks at the surrounding bars, seemed to appreciate the melodic racket coming from the middle of the street - as did I.

I walked through side streets looking in shop windows, bright-eyed at the effort put in to lure consumers into the well laid out retail spaces. I became acutely aware of their attention-to-detail; their desire intrigue. Their attempts were actually rather inspired, clever and extremely effective. I stood at the window of the Nokia store watching the new advert over and over, impressed by the mind that could come up with such an incredible concept.

The Apple store on Regent Street closed as I looked on, the employees having their bags checked as they exited. Apple, proving to me how they managed to keep the profits they earned. The unique glass fascia of the store struck me as impressive, but what I found more so was the surrounding buildings. I realised that during my usual visits to the centre of the capital, I didn't tend to find the time to look up and take in the just-out-of-my-peripheral-vision sights. The obviously listed buildings were beautiful and my mind wondered as to what they had housed before the Apple store and other retails giants came along.

By 22.30, I met my friend who had finally finished work and all that I had taken in was once again forgotten in a subconscious second, the hustle and bustle of the journey home taking priority in my mind.

However, my love of the capital didn't end there. On Friday, as I was walking back from a lunch date, I was stopped by a charity street-canvasser named Hannah. Hannah asked me to talk to her for just a second, but instead of my usual polite but firm declination, I stopped to have a word with the girl that seemed to have a light behind her eyes for the work she was doing. Her charity, www.everychild.org.uk, seemed to be legitimate and she sold the concept so very well.

Instead of asking me for money, Hannah's spiel about how the charity's overheads were the lowest of all UK charities due to the fact that they did not pay for huge mail outs or other costly gimmicks, really resonated with me. She did not badger me into giving, but we held impacting conversation about the effect of the organisation and they work they do. The discussion moved onto our passion for the welfare of children and our own personal endeavours.

Hannah's approach made me smile. She had changed my expectations of how a street-canvasser gained their commission. The fact that she gained no commission from her chat with me, or anyone else, probably had a a big impact on the creative way in which she dealt with me. The focus was the children, not the money and I could see that. The difference was huge!

I left Hannah, smiling. She had given me something else to write about and I remembered my earlier encounter with 'London' on Tuesday night.

I began to think about the many occasions on which I had made my way through London with blinkers on, hating everything about the stinking, dirty city. I thought about the fact that, actually, there is so much to love about London town, the UK's pride and joy. Hyde Park, The London Eye, London Aquarium, Oxford Street, Brent Cross, Vertigo 42, The Oxo Tower, The Ritz... All of these and more are what London is known and loved for.

In retrospect, I know it would be realistic of me to admit that I will probably revert back to slandering my city the next time I smell rotting garbage that has not yet been picked up by an ever-late council bin service, or that I will despise the life I am forced to live here with the next sighting of a rat crossing my path, but all in all, I have to admit that it's not that bad. It can't be: We are the city that won the 2012 Olympic bid - we must be doing something right....