Follow one Londonista trying to put the brakes on with Slow Club.
The London Duck Tour - not only will you go slowly on an amphibious vehicle but you might rediscover London too?
This week's low point: huffing and puffing behind a person on crutches.
The fault lies with me. I don’t leave enough time to get to places, so always have to powerwalk. I need more contigencies and checks. And I need to relax. So what if I miss my train? Will it really be the end of the world to get home half an hour later? There is a sense that time is so precious, you have to wring every drop dry. So I’ve been trying not to compulsively plan and I've been trying not to get so worked up by the smallest things.
This week, I was asked to walk a regular walk but via a different route. I sort of cheated here, and instead walked a journey that I usually do by bus.
King’s Cross Road might not have the same appeal as the La Rambla, but, as I ambled along, I did see some lovely architecture, and several pubs and restaurants that I made mental notes to check out. For example, how come I’d never noticed the cool-looking King's Cross Social Club on the number 63 bus?
I also had to explore a part of London that I'd never been to before. Again, I sort of reinterpreted this (there’s always one...), by visiting those parts that everyone thinks they know (Westminster, South Bank), but end up taking for granted.
Which led me to the London Duck Tour: a truck, decorated like a duck, that doubles up as a boat and dates from the D-Day landings.
It dawned on me, as the tour guide told us a catalogue of facts, that I don’t really appreciate this city. It’s tainted by drudgery: I work here, live here, go to the denist here. London is never going to have the same 'weekend away' thrill of a Paris or Prague. But I'm determined to reclaim it: go to the Tower of London, see the Changing of the Guard, step inside Westminster Abbey...
But not just yet. I may be in danger of linking slowness with laziness - but, hey, it's starting to feel good!
