This is London

This is London
This is underground
This is a Metropolitan line train to Uxbridge.
This is London
And the bluish green Heinz baked beans’ cans
Tuna and cucumber sandwiches
And BLT
And DLR
And the chewing gum noses on the posters hanging on the escalator walls.
This is London
And these are Polish guys drinking Kronenbourg from a can and talking loudly
Indecipherable.
This is London
These are wet streets shining under gas lamps and the faint stars and their shadows.
This is London
This is Baker Street
This is Sherlock Holmes on the tiles
Abbey Road and the Beatles.
This is London
The Queen and Tate Modern
Tattoos and piercings
And Victorian headpieces.
This is London
These are Indians
And they took over every cornershop in the country
And there are loads of them.
This is London
The Underground papers
Quite mainstream, in fact:
Metro for the mornings
Lite and Londonpaper for the rush hour
Left on the seats amongst McDonald’s papercups and fried chicken paperbags.
Yes, yes
This is London
No one speaks English without an accent
And kids look cool in Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Old Street
They read magazines and pretend not to care
But they follow the book
And the American Apparel meets flappers is the general look
- but no one dances the Charleston.
´Cause this is London
And these are the years 2000’s
And everyone’s got an iPod, a Facebook, a taste for alcohol
And everyone is drunk before eleven on a Friday night.
This is London
And the guys in the City try to copy East London haircuts
- but they make real money, shag real secretaries, while the boys from Hackney are skint and only shag the high-waisted-skirts-for-a-secretary-look indie girls when they get lucky at the Old Blue Last, every once in a while.
This is London
This is a pub
We serve food all day
Never mind the mice, though
- pint of Stella, pint of Star
We drink fast so it doesn’t get warm.
And the rugby supporters shouting on the train back home
“Well, shut up, will ya, please? We are tired, Yeah.”
This is London
And tourists.
Lots of tourists.
Asian girls photographing at Trafalgar Square
And the lions.
Tourists, tourists.
The magnificent National Gallery, the school excursions from France
And the pre-theatre dinner
The Phantom of the Opera is not dead.
This is London
And it’s old
And it’s new
And it’s beautiful
And I love it to bits.
This is cold, and damp,
and dark, and windy
And everyone loves to complain about the weather
So much so that, if it was nice and warm all year round, people would be so bored not to have something to complain about they would start hating the very Sun.
This is London
And there is a little sign everywhere for everything:
Mind the gap, please,
Sorry, this toilette is out of service
Please, keep feet off seats
Please offer this seat to elderly or disabled people
Please, keep to your right
Please, mind the step
Always so polite?
This is absolutely London
Celebrity gossip, football, Channel 4, BBC
Poppy appeal
Hay fever
Charity
Party
Tube
Anything.
This is London
This is where you come to find something
Anything
No matter what
And always end up finding it.
Exactly what you were looking for.

- February, 2008.