Exploring the territory

Today it was lovely weather here. A nice bleak wintry sun but with a chill in the air that left me in two minds as to whether or not I should wear my gloves and scarf or not. You can feel spring is around the corner but at the same time winter has not quite passed. It's my favourite kind of weather. It definitely seemed a shame to waste such a day indoors so I chose to explore the urban jungle of London a bit.

I've been living in this city for almost five months now and it's shocking how little of it I have seen so far. Every day I travel from my house to College and back but, with the exception of some of the more obvious hot spots, I have hardly seen a thing. Most tourists know London better than I do. Today was therefore I good opportunity to make my acquaintance with the city and what better way to do this than to go for a walk? Wearing my scarf, though not the gloves and with the A-Z street map safely tucked away in my bag I set out for a walk along the river bank. I actually love strolling along the water. I believe no city should be allowed to be called a city unless it has a proper river running through! It's not that the Thames embankment is all that beautiful, parts of it are even downright ugly or filthy, but it still gives the city a certain character. However, after some point the riverside had nothing more to offer than yet more luxurious but utterly soulless apartment blocks so I abandoned the river and continued my random walk into the neighbourhood. The advantage of having no fixed destination is that you can't get lost on your way there. As I am one of those people who have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever that is a considerable bonus. The downside of course is that you don't always end up at those places which are most interesting or aesthetically pleasing.

I now know that what on the map looked like a nice park in reality is not much more than a large open space of grass and mud, that Wimbledon is a fairly pretty yet mostly boring residential area and that some parts of Wandsworth are a tad grotty. None of what I saw today has any touristic value and I very much doubt I will go out of my way to visit these places again but at least I can now colour in another little piece of my blank mental map of London. For my next trip I might consider some more picturesque places though.