I have not just fallen in love with the river; I think I’ve fallen with London full stop. Yes, she can be savage and brutal, but she can be surprisingly beautiful. Lyn and I were walking today, up north of the river. We had gone to see abbey road studios – it was on TV last night, when it had occurred to us that we had never been there. So we went, catching the tube to Kilburn and walking from there. After seeing the studios – sadly, we couldn’t go in – we decided to go for a walk.

Dominick took us along the road to regent’s canal, which we walked along towards Camden. I had no idea there were canals in London, or if I did they are so rare I had forgotten there were such things. Walking along it’s banks, as dusk became night, I remembered walking along the banks of the canals up in Cheshire. Bill used to push me along the bridal paths to the Romping Donkey in my first or second year at university: it was nice, peaceful, heading between the fields. Something about the stillness of the water and the green of the banks transported me back. Only, there was one big difference: back in Cheshire, if you stood still and were quiet, all you could hear was birdsong. I tried the same thing tonight, but the birds were drowned out by the traffic. ”Oh well,” I thought ”At least it looks pretty.” And so it was: London may not have the fields and countryside I once loved, and indeed still do, but it makes up for that in may, many other ways.

When we reached Camden, we headed to the market, and almost instantly I wondered why Lyn hadn’t taken me there before. It is a treasure rove, an Aladdin’s cave of all kinds of shops selling all kinds of things. Some of these appeared to sell the sort of stuff which appeals to me – exotic, unusual clothing and so on – so I made a mental note to head back there when I had more money and time. It was, however, time to eat, so we enjoyed dinner together in the ancient market, and then headed home. We got back just in time for me to watch Frozen Planet; I could think of no better way to round of a day exploring a city I love with the woman I love.