I now think I know east London pretty well, having been living here for almost twelve years. I i trundle around areas like Greenwich, Canary Wharf and Stratford fairly regularly. Yet it occurred to me recently that I know virtually nothing of the west of the metropolis. North of the Thames and beyond, say, Baker Street is almost a total blank on my mental map.

Today, then, I decided to start to put that right. My initial plan upon setting out had been to just pop up to the Olympic park again; but at the last minute I decided to head west instead of east – it was time for some exploration. At first I thought I would get off the tube at green park and take the bus from there, but rather foolishly forgot that it was only wheelchair accessible if you ride in certain coaches. I then realised that I was stuck on the train until we got to Wembley.

I must admit that I was rather annoyed by this at first. I still think that, before it starts any more big projects, TFL should concentrate on making all its tube stations accessible. It seems highly unfair that Londoners like myself can only use certain stations, far fewer than other people, and that we have to be extra careful about where we can and cannot go.

Once at Wembley, though, I put my grumble aside and set about looking around. It is another absurdity gentrified area of London, crammed with shining new buildings. I don’t think I had ever been up there before, but it was quite spectacular. I could tell that it had been redeveloped quite recently, and parts were still being worked on. The half baked idea I’d had of getting a bus from there and dropping in on my parents quickly faded as I soon became rather lost exploring the streets in between trying to dodge the showers.

I didn’t stay in Wembley very long. It was getting wetter and wetter, so much so that returning home became something of a priority. Needless to say I’ll probably head that way again soon, weather permitting. It still staggers me how much money is being ploughed into areas like that. Wembley is quite a historic area, of course synonymous with football; yet today it shines like New York, Los Angeles, or any other newly established centre of capitalism. It makes me wonder once again: are any other parts of the country receiving this breathtaking investment, or is London being singled out for special treatment?

Having said that, I still wish this metropolis would spend some of the money it obviously has on updating the remainder of its tube stations.