I could swear London is shrinking. The city seems to get smaller and smaller, year on year. What felt thirteen years ago like a vast, sprawling metropolis now feels almost walkable. I just got in from my first proper trundle of the year. Truth be told, it only started as a routine afternoon stroll to Lewisham. Halfway there though, I felt the urge to explore, and go somewhere I hadn’t gone before.

Getting to Lewisham town centre, I trundled past the shops heading westward. I wasn’t altogether sure where I was going, but knew that if the bus stops I was passing still showed the route numbers I was familiar with, I could get myself home easily enough.

The scenery gradually growing more and more urban, basically following the A2, pretty soon I found myself in New Cross. That was an achievement in itself, further than I had ever trundled in just my powerchair before. I was in the mood to keep going though, relishing my new lithium batteries my parents bought me for my birthday.

The afternoon was fast turning into a cool one. Before long I found myself in Southwark with its grand, well maintained park. Pushing on even further, I noticed The Shard growing bigger and bigger in my path; I began to wonder whether I could get all the way to London Bridge, and from there get the Jubilee Line home.

Yet that is exactly what I ended up doing. Southwark had seemed miles away, reachable only by public transport, but it turned out to be closer and more accessible than I thought. About two hours after leaving home, I found myself looking around the famous Borough Market, feeling bloody impressed that I had managed to get so far. Then, after a bit of difficulty finding the right entrance to the tube station, I caught the Jubilee line back to North Greenwich, the city suddenly feeling more traversable, navigable and homelike than I could ever once have imagined.