This City at Night

I love to walk, whether in a large Metropolitan city, out in the county, along a beach, up a mountain path, or sometimes in circles as it often feels. But, there is something special about the Walk.

And, there is also something special about walking a big city at night.

Last evening, after dinner I took the Tube down to various stops near the Thames and did some walking. I was nearly alone. Partially because of the more business aspect of the area and there is no residential, and partly because nearly the entire city was packed in all of the pubs watching the Soccer match, from which you would sporadically hear roars of frustration, jubilation, or anger.

So, I had a chunk of London to myself, almost literally for the span of nearly an hour. I felt like I was in  a story such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road, in which I was walking through a post-apocalyptic urban waste land, devoid of much human contact.

But, it was a fitting last night for this particular visit to London, which was different in many ways than the previous ones.

I did have Snow Patrol's song in my mind at times, and it was rather fitting.

Not as Dirty Ol' Man Anymore

WIth the recent ruling against the former Penn State football coach, Sandusky for 45 counts of sexual abuse, this title is a bit sensitive, I am aware.

However, this has to do with something else. Currently, I am in London, and was reminded of Faithless's song "Dirty Ol' Man," which is likewise not about a pedophile or lecher, but about big, urban cities, such as London.

What strikes me most about being in London again for the fifth time in 25 years or so, is that each time, like Manhattan, it becomes less and less dirty. When I first came here as overwhelmed teenager from America and London being the first European city I had been to, (though depending upon whom you ask, London is or is not European), I remember how DIRTY it was and all of the visceral, urban smells I had not been familiar with in places I had been before in the States.

This time, however, I am truly struck with how CLEAN central London is. Granted, there are still very dirty parts, to be sure, but I am really amazed more and more how these very large urban centers continue to become cleaner and cleaner in the past 10-15 years.

Of course, Kensington and Notting Hill Gate are not what one would think of as dirty, though I have been in several much grittier and "real" areas in London, but here is a sign from Dawson Place, part of the tony neighborhood around here.

Holy Crap! And, I mean, that must be one Holy Crap, because that is one helluva an expensive Dog Poop. For us Yanks, that is more than $1500 dollars for a doggie cigar misplaced.

When I first went to Antwerp in 1990 or so, you could not dodge the innumerable dog poop piles on the streets. Now, in 2012 Antwerp, you would be hard pressed to find any. Not that I WANT to be dodging doggie bombs, but the difference is pretty amazing.

Having lived in Madurai, India and visited Varanasi recently, there is not much I would be surprised to see in a city, and those truly are about as dirty as a city comes. In fact, not sure I want to see if one can be worse. And, perhaps that perspective has permanently changed my views on dirt, filth, and the human condition in a city, but still, the urban centers of London, NYC, Dublin, Paris, Antwerp, and so forth are definitely not the "dirty old men" cities of merely 25 years ago that I once saw.

What was interesting is that about 50m from this sign, there was a pile of vomit, most likely from a heavy night out of drinking, which was not cleaned up. I wonder how much that would be fined?