R&R

I'm heading back to old blighty for a few days tonight. The main reason is to see the Pixies play. They're playing in an old bingo hall which seems to be trying to reinvent itself as "London's most versatile venue" apparently. It's a short walk up the road from my apartment in town, so that's very handy. It'll also be great to catch up with some friends.

The break is also a welcome opportunity to sort out some of my UK affairs. I've decided to sell my house this summer, so I need to get a couple of valuations done. The first one I received seemed ridiculously high, given that Shadwell, is a rather shabby part of town.

It still feels weird calling where I used to live London, for as anyone who's lived there and who has thought about the geography of the place, it is a sprawl of distinct urban areas. There isn't, I believe any coherent urban identity. Places like Shadwell and Kensington have so little in common, in fact they are polar opposites. Most of the urban areas are just that, towns which have been swallowed up by the sprawl of the old walled city. Shadwell is just that, originally a town built on the marshy banks of the Thames. It really grew when the docks arrived. The random nature of urbanisation in the city probably hasn't helped either, there's been little or no protection of urban areas. This is very obvious in working class parts of the city, little of the terraced housing remains, most has been replaced by sixties and seventies style modernist public housing.

My apartment is in a convenient place though, one underground stop from London's banking district and three from Canary Wharf, another major office / finance hub. Although Shadwell has begun to be gentrified (the last time I was there was on the way back from Vegas) and a cafe has opened by the docklands lightrail station, the area remains predominantly an immigrant area. Treat yourself to a look around the place using google streetview and you'll see that it's a bit run down. Still it was home for a good thirteen years, so selling it will feel like a major milestone, and the end of a segment of my life.