A Scotsmans View of London

I've been about a bit, seen some great cities around the world, New York, Paris, Toronto and Sydney but theres something quite appealing about London.

What may you ask? Things that Londoners do take for granted. Sport for instance, you have Wembley and Twickenham and all the regular and one of sporting events they bring, you have 5 Premiership football teams, the O2 and soon to be completed, the Olympic Venues.  Yes, when it comes to sport and entertainment London has got most other countries in the world beat.

You also have Olympia, Earls Court and the Excel Centre for all the varied and different events they bring to you.

Londons West End, surely the worlds best theatre district bar none.  With an insane amount of major theatres to choose from (something like 42?) theres something to suite everyones tastes.  When was the last time you visited a West End Show or have you become imune to there charm and easy availability?

Cultural attractions, now where do I begin, Parliament, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Tower of London ...... the list is almost endless.  Make no mistake my friend, this is where the English speaking world started, this is the real home of the free.  We do have a lot to answer for though ....

Shopping my pet hate but a visit to Bond Street, Harrods etc and all the designer boutiques would be enough to exhaust even the most ardent shopaholics, but is a tv worth and extra £200 so it can be delivered by a Harrods van?  I think not, but I am Scots afterall.

Underground, overground, oh so tempting to start talking about the wombles of Wimbledon Common here, but no, here I'm talking about London transport.  An integrated transport system in Scotland usually revolves around making sure a pub is next to the train station or bus station.  In London, its terrific.  Take Canning Town for instance, Bus station, DLR and Underground all combined with each other.  Really you don't know how lucky you are until you visit other cities at home or abroad. The amount of people I over heard complaining about late trains or underground delays.  People you don't know how fortunate you are, suck it up and live with it.

But tell me, why are you so unfriendly? Take the tube for instance.  Why don't people speak to anyone, or a quick hello or brief smile?  Why is it if you make eye contact with anyone do they immediately bury there head deeper into the Metro?  Heavens forbid if you smile and say hello, we made that mistake one day on the Northern Line and she jumped out of the carriage in shock and re-entered our carriage at the next door.  A mean feat since we were moving at the time. We wondered if we were deemed to strange by showing a common courtesy or was she the weird one with her bright blue lipstick?

What I'm trying to say is London must be one of the greatest places to live in the world, its not perfect but do Londoners really appreciate what a wonderful city they live in?  I can't wait to get back down.

One final thing, can someone ask Boris Johnson if we could get our £6.60 back from a ticket machine at DLR Greenwich which took our money and issued no ticket?  Machine 81 if your interested......