Not that diary

A handful of cities across the world have stood the test of time. London is one of them. The swarming cities in parts of Asia and dare I say, the 'Global South', seem to morph into new beings at the blink of an eye. London, however, displays an underlying constancy even as subtle changes creep up every few months. In the autumn of 2021, some things had decidedly changed. Yet in many places it seemed as if time had stood still, at least for now. I share below a set of photos that show both sides of the city. Some venues are easily recognisable iconic locations. Other places are more personal - they represent shared memories and leave a door open for 'yet-to-be-made' memories. Let's start with new things on the block. In late 2021, a significant chunk of the global population had been vaccinated, lockdowns were a thing of the past and outdoor group exercise was in fashion. This is a scene from an outdoor fitness class on the bank of River Thames, not far from Southwar...

 2020 and 2021. Yes, it was a truly awful period. Much has been written and will continue be written about the surreal, haunting and painful time that much of humanity experienced. For that very reason, this post is about finding joys, appreciation and even a small thrill in activities we earlier took for granted. The time has come to wipe off the cyber cobwebs and bring my blog to life again. What better way to do that than take the reader on a walk through one of my favourite cities - London. Shortly after my 2nd jab, I took my first flight out and landed in London in the autumn of 2021. Quick alert - there will be a lot of post-covid 'firsts' in this post and the ones to follow. I felt an inexplicable feeling of novelty in taking a flight and then a taxi, walking in a familiar neighbourhood, watching people hurry back from from work, meeting people I hadn't seen for 18 months. More than ever before I felt fortunate to be able to do this. In that period of re-discovery, I...

In fact they are better than the best. Walking along one of my most favourite parts of town, the South Bank in London, I saw the little van parked just past Riverside Wharf (west of Blackfriars). I know it's been there for some time (a few months? a whole year?) and I've always managed to walk past it without slowing my stride. On this day, the sky was slightly overcast, there was a post-rain chilliness in the air and a light wind was blowing. Aided by the wind, the fragrance of freshly baked donuts wafted across the pathway, bumping lightly on the tall heads of passing tourists and heading right into my tiny nostrils. My feet carried me, in a zombie-like state, to the little van where a nice lady was scooping a fresh lot of mini-doughnuts out of her large pan. I asked for £2 worth. She smiled and put some in a bag. Now I must state that I'm not a crazy doughnut fan. I usually find them too sweet and give up after having a quarter. But these mini donuts were bite-siz...