To tell the truth, the problem I found at Green Park yesterday was kind of bugging me, so today I thought I would pop back up there and see whether the station is in fact accessible. I got a bus to North Greenwich and hopped on the Jubilee Line, after consulting the staff . In the end it wasn’t a problem: I simply needed to sit in the right train carriage.

Once up in central London though, I decided to have a look around. Green Park itself looked very pretty in the autumn, but what struck me the most was how expensive and gentrified that area is. I seldom head that way, but the amount of posh, expensive shops made my jaw drop. Bentleys probably worth millions were parked in the streets; doormen in top hats stood at the entrances shops like fortnum and Mason. You could almost smell the combination of wealth and entitlement in the air.

Following my nose as I usually do, I checked out the arcades of Mayfair before heading to Oxford street and then Bond Street station. It was very busy and crowded, but fortunately today the rain held off. Needless to say I didn’t buy anything, but was happy just to take in some of central London.

Before long I reached Bond Street and got the Elizabeth Line back to Woolwich. The train was crowded but fast, and I was back on familiar ground within minutes. However, I think the swiftness of the journey kind of made the contrast between the two regions of London more striking than ever. Woolwich market on a Saturday afternoon is very rough and ready: working class and noisy, stall holders shout out what they are selling while Caribbean music blasts from loudspeakers. I could barely make it across General Gordon Square, winding between the stalls and various funfair attractions.

Geographically of course, I had only travelled a few kilometres, but the difference in the culture and atmosphere between the two areas was so stark that it was difficult to believe that I was still in the same city. London at its most bourgeois had become London at perhaps its most proletarian. The change was too striking for me not to notice, and could even be heard in people’s accents. High speed transport projects like The Elisabeth Line may effectively shrink the city, but in doing so they make the contrasts between North, South, East and West more obvious and pronounced. Yet that is part of why I love this metropolis: it’s like the world in one spot, infinitely varied and full of diversity. A twenty minute train ride can take you to another planet. A city so full of life that you can’t help being sucked into it; so fascinating that you never want to leave.