A Sedate and Ghostly Beauty

" London itself looks best in the dark. It’s a pretty safe city, and you can walk in most places after sunset. It has a sedate and ghostly beauty. In the crepuscular kindness, you can see not just how she is, but how she once was, the layers of lives that have been lived here. Somebody with nothing better to do worked out that for every one of us living today, there are 15 ghosts. In most places you don’t notice them, but in London you do."
-from the NY Times "A Profile of London" by A. A. Gill 


I was thinking of this quote this week. Strange to think that I`ve been in London for over seven months now. I can`t say that London feels like "home" - there are too many of those moments when I get lost or when I just don`t understand this place (sometimes it`s just the expressions - did you know people here say that a gullible person is "a mug" ??). Yet there are moments - lots of them - when I wouldn`t want to live anywhere else in the world. Crossing Waterloo Bridge at night always does that for me [London at night is, as Gill says, a ghostly, beautiful city]. And seeing Tower Bridge. Also, going to the Opera, to see La Bohème, on Opening Night, in the company of royalty. It just doesnt get much better than this. 

I`ve been trying to take self-timed pictures for the last few months. Clearly my photography skills need some work! In the photo above I was trying to show how beautiful and sunny it was today - finally! for the first time in a whole month. I was on a lunch break - I volunteer at an NGO called War on Want two days a week, it keeps me from spending all my time at the LSE library.

 Here I am with my friend HJ. We went to eat Dim Sum in Chinatown on Sunday & I realized it has been a while! Going for dim sum is just not the same when I`m not eating with my extended Chinese family. But it was pleasant nonetheless - the Ha Chaun Fan was pretty good, although I was a bit disappointed with the Cha Siu Bow (they were tiny). 


This week we have dissertation workshops where we get input from other students about our dissertation proposals. I`ve been a bit behind in my research schedule! But I think we'll have a really good discussion since most of my group members are working on climate change /resilience/ South East Asia like me. 


I`m also thinking of going to Rome sometime in June. Blame it on Roman Holiday and Audrey Hepburn! In between revising for exams, I`m going to allow myself to spent a few blissful moments imagining myself on a scooter whizzing past the Piazza del Popolo, indulging in gelato, and dancing on a boat in a long red skirt. 

Sending my love to my family. I am thinking of you.

Love

Miss Engagée