Summer in the city

London is blooming. How I love summer in the city; suddenly the litter-strewn streets shimmer with possibilities, the dirty grey river seems to sparkle and the sun stays out til 9pm! Drinking lager in the park after work, sun-bathing at lunch with a book, meandering instead of rushing from one warm space to another, everyone seems happier and more relaxed. Cafes set up tables outside and suddenly it seems a brilliant idea to sit kerbside with a bottle of wine breathing in exhaust fumes and talking over the traffic. Bliss.

Yesterday evening, in a homage to summer in London town, I walked from Lambeth to Blackfriars. Once again I used my trusted friend walkit.com which is beyond awesome. So simple, does just what you want it to do. Easy to understand directions, a simple map, and cute little statistics, for example in this case: 1.7 miles, 26 minutes (fast) - 53 minutes (slow), 184 calories, 0.58kg of carbon dioxide (via car) saved. So I meandered along Southbank, though probably not ever slow enough for it to take 53 minutes - I seem to be genetically disposed to walk fast; a mate of mine always berates me for rushing, and even when I am ambling along it seems I can't stop my legs speeding up. Yet one thing that always makes me slow down: the amazing architecture in the city. The National Theatre for one. It is so grotesque, with it's 1960s, Communist type grey blocks, yet so grandly beautiful with its refusal to fit into the dignified, fall-down disrepair of the classical buildings London is famous for. I love it. I particularly love the way that the site includes a skater area - there is no way Southbank can get too above itself; no rich elite will ever lay claim to this place with it's graffiti covered stone runners and teenagers skating past at 30mph.

The other thing that always makes me pause is the views from London bridges; my favourite view has to be from Vauxhall Bridge, either downriver to Battersea Power Station or upriver to the London Eye. Funny how the Eye has become such an iconic landmark since the Millennium. We all smirked at government's ridiculous Millennium Dome plans and it seemed easy to sniff at the London Eye too. Ill-thought through, expensive, short-term. All about impressing everyone but the people who would have to live with it day in day out, i.e. Londoners. And yet... how wrong we were. A Bulgarian friend of mine was visiting the capital recently and we did the same walk with both of us rhapsodising about the Eye. How well it fits in for such a monstrously modern looking thing; how it looks as if it has always been sat by the river at Waterloo watching the water for centuries, not a mere decade. My friend was surprised at how the Eye was originally meant to be a temporary exhibit, until it was gifted as a permanent structure. The website says the Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution - equivalent to 11 London red double-decker buses - which is pretty cool. My nan always used to say we shouldn't go on it, she was determined it would lead to disaster, but when my sister and I went on a spin, we adored it. A pretty unique way to see the city.