Stokey view
(View from my window in Stoke Newington: London, England)
Stoke Newington, or as all my counterparts here call it, Stokey is in a dead spot for the London Underground service – or tube. There doesn’t seem to be a station within at least forty minutes walk of here. Thankfully there are buses and the Overground, though until this visit to London, I had no idea there even was an Overground. I’m about to take the Overground, then Underground – I do this each day to get anywhere! It means that even though I’m in just one city, going to the centre is equivalent to me leaving my Glasgow flat and commuting to Edinburgh each day. Somehow it’s acceptable here, but to my Scottish mindset, it seems utterly unreasonable.
This is a view out of my present bedroom window. I can’t believe I’m in London when I look out. Last week I was on a living room floor airbed in North London, now I’m in a real bed in a Stokey attic and next week I move to Belsize park and into a spare room. It could be very much worse. It’s immense fun to see and experience the atmosphere of three completely different areas; market filled, bustling Kentish Town, verdant, trendy, multicultural Stokey and smart, boulevarded Belsize.
– Today Rosie is in Kew Gardens, London –
[...] in a way. That city is no longer simply a city, it’s a place I have lived – albeit for a short time a year and a half ago. In those few weeks, I felt like a part of it and less like an interloper. I have too many friends [...]