I’ve recently discovered the past time of walking; walking and exploring. Others had tried to introduce it to me but for years I was inactive, didn’t like to get moving because of my flat feet that ached with only an hour or two on them and my sore creaky knees. It wasn’t until I started to regularly work out that I realised my feet hurt less when they were being used more. So now, I love to explore London, well I have always liked exploring it since I’ve lived here, but now I feel I am really exploring it, on foot, for hours at a time sometimes. I am finally learning how all the bits join up, how close together so much of it is. Instead of taking the closest tube to somewhere, I might get off a bit earlier and walk and explore. There’s so much history here too. People have been walking these streets for centuries. How many of them were like me? I have been reading books set in London while living here and that has been quite exciting (there aren’t a lot of books set in my home city, but I will definitely explore more of them when I get back). I am getting homesick though and while I’m very excited about the idea of going ‘home’ (which is on the other side of the world), I will miss London a lot. I am making lists of things to do here before I leave. I have not found London a friendly city (something I struggled with for quite some time when I got here), but I have found it interesting, exciting, sometimes playful, only occasionally scary, and the bookshops, so many bookshops. I love it.
