The Splendour and The Stench of The Big Smoke

I have always found London a inviting place - gentile you might say! - though complicated by expense (it is as horrendous as people say) and a preponderance of bureaucratic civility! Of course, when living in The Big Smoke as opposed to traveling through as tourist your feelings change as you get on with the rigors of daily life. Much of London is grim. Dirty and sullen on dark winter days with little respite from the city encroaching on your soul. Escaping as I did while living there to the relative tranquility of Cambridge and a good friend's flat at the weekend was a godsend! There were moments of pleasure and fun and I always miss the pub! And I have to say that something about the stern British fight to get on in spite of things won me over a lot of the time. Finally, there was a time when I had had enough and the light of California came calling - if only for a short while... London's splendor was restored for me a bit on this trip (although I had to plug my ears every time I paid for something to avoid going deaf from the recurring grenades going off in my wallet) and I guess that had to do with staying largely to Earl's Court, Hyde Park, Kensington and Mayfair. My brief jaunt into Soho for a pint with friends reminded me briefly of the 'London as a shit hole' factor. Tough to forget really, and I left with as mixed feelings as I arrived, fond memories of long days at work at The Moving Picture Company and even longer nights at the pub all swallowed up by the atmosphere blending into a single gray element... Did I mention it was sunny?