maybe it's 'cause i'm a londoner...

walking around london is one of the best things. exploring all the little back roads, stumbling across treasures, strange shops, people, stories, houses. and the museums and galleries that are free. i wanted to go to the wallace collection today, but we kind of ran out of time as we went for dim sum in chinatown after oxford circus - heading away from manchester square.

and i go through phases of constantly having my walkman jammed on, walking around with a soundtrack to wherever i am; or just not being able to handle the music, like it dulls out some of the world around me or something, and burying the walkman under the rest of the junk in my bag.

i did it in new york too. it was so nice having those first five days all by myself, just walking all over the place, block to block. i think it's slightly easier there, what with that grid layout and all. but - and this is going to sound gay in a totally gay way - you get a better sense of the city when you do this. off the beaten track or whatever.

there are times when it feels like your own private city, when you come across something you've never seen before, or some amazing little shop. like that second hand bookstore in NY that was around union sq somewhere. all those bukowski and harry crews books, and the ladders that you moved around and climbed up yourself to rifle through the top shelves (imagine that happening at waterstones or barnes & noble... they'd be so scared of litigation if someone fell or something, customers wouldn't be allowed within a five mile radius of a ladder). and the fat cat that just sat in the middle of the back room and regally watched the book browsers, and the other cat that twined itself round your ankles as you weighed up whether to buy those two william faulkner books (you didn't in the end as you figured it was only your third day in town and you should watch your money until you knew how the trip was going to play out). and the smell of the books, kind of dusty and musty and papery.

i was trying to convince HF today of the beauty of doing stuff like this, trying to convince her to just walk somewhere, anywhere, wherever we end up, but she was tired, full from dim sum and feeling a little grumpy or something, so that idea was dismissed.

never mind. i like going by myself, antisocial bug that i am. i'd rather go by myself than with someone who just doesn't *get* it. and i don't think she does.