If you haveread any of my blog posts you will know that I am a Londoner and although I haven’t lived there for some 50 years, I still call London home.
And I think I am not alone in considering the place of my birth as home. No matter how far we travel away from our birthplace, there is always a pull to go back, even if for a short visit. Over the years I have returned many times and have seen the amazing changes that have taken place in my hometown.
London has always been a great city and even after the devastation of the Second world War the city was busy and alive. Then with the introduction/influx of people from other cultures, other countries and other religions, London could truly claim to be cosmopolitan. It is an exciting place to visit and according to my sister and friends, an exciting place in which to live.
And now of course, the excitement has reached fever pitch. And it will not die down immediately following the closing ceremony on Sunday. New life has been injected into parts of the East End that were forgotten and forlorn before London gained the 2012 Olympics. These areas will now thrive following the rejuvenation and the influx of people who will now make their homes there.
A couple of days ago I watched the cycling leg of the Triathlon. Watching cyclists going round and round the same course is not particularly enthralling – although the feat of the Brownlie brothers in winning Gold and Bronze for Great Britain was stunning – for me the excitement was identifying all the landmarks of home.
And so in the words of Hubert Gregg … Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
“Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner,
That I love London so.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner,
That I think of her wherever I go.
I get a funny feeling inside of me,
Just walking up and down.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner,
That I love London Town.”
Hubert Gregg, English songwriter, broadcaster, author and stage actor.
(1914-2004)
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..Related articles
- London Town (artistsuziepindar.wordpress.com)
- Can ‘posh’ Olympics reboot London’s cockney East End? (cbc.ca)
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