Dear New York

Dear New York,

It must be flu season both sides of the ocean. I think it is slightly unlikely that we had the same illness (I’m not sure that human viruses have managed to transmit themselves over the internet yet), but the symptoms you describe are sounding quite familiar…

Weirdly, my immune system is not the only thing mimicking you this week, but my photography is too. I have to admit, I saw your photo for commute and realized I am definitely going to have to up my game here. I love the slow shutter speed effect you used at the station - it really gives a sense of the hustle and bustle of rush hour, so I brazenly took my camera out and tried to copy it.

I am not sure how successful I was - did you use a tripod to steady the camera? I think all of my photos came away with a quite definite blur - and not a purposeful one either!

So here is my attempt:

My original theme (before you took such an annoyingly good picture) was going to revolve around something that I think is almost uniquely London: the end of week, end of work drinks.

From around 5 pm every Thursday (and about 12:30 pm every Friday!) groups of people in suits will congregate outside pubs in the city, downing pints and unwinding from the week. This is probably now a major part of a lot of Londoners’ end of week commute and something I see regularly when going home (and occasionally participated in, of course).

It wasn’t until a couple of friends (who are not local to the UK) questioningly pointed out the large groups of people, all in suits, all drinking on the streets at about 4 pm on a Friday afternoon (almost certainly on empty stomachs) that I concluded that this might be another one of those, if not charming, then at least unique, facets of London life.

See illustrative photo below - taken just after noon on Friday…

So, I guess I get to choose the theme again this week. I think something a bit more general, and as it is now coming up to Summer, I think we can make the theme:

Summer in the City

Happy hunting!

London