| I love London, it is my kind of town. Now I | | | | recent years was held shortly after the awful |
| know that to most people this would sound as | | | | events of 911 when instead of playing God |
| if I am plagiarising some advertising copy | | | | Save the Queen the band of the Guards |
| for either New York or Chicago but in this | | | | performed what turned out to be quite an |
| case I truly mean it. I have lived AND worked | | | | emotional performance (certainly for those |
| in London for well over 30 years and I have | | | | visiting American tourists in the audience) |
| seen everything come and go, good times and | | | | of the Star Spangled Banner, the national |
| bad times. From the bad old days and the | | | | anthem of the United States of America. |
| darkest hours of the terrorist bombing | | | | Perhaps the significance of this passed most |
| campaigns of the Provisional IRA in the 70's | | | | of the on looking tourist by but it was a |
| and 80's to the good times when the | | | | first in living memory that any other |
| announcement was made that London had been | | | | national anthem other than the United |
| awarded the 2012 Olympics and the Queens | | | | Kingdoms own God Save the Queen had been |
| Jubilee. London has seen it all and treats | | | | performed at the Changing of the Guards |
| both with the same respect. I remember | | | | ceremony. Perhaps it is little incidences |
| travelling through London to return home to | | | | like these that sum up exactly what a rich |
| Northern Ireland where I now live on the day | | | | cornucopia of the historic and modern, the |
| the news broke that Princess Diana had | | | | city of London actually is. Unlike other |
| tragically been killed in a car accident in | | | | major international capital cities, London |
| Paris and the sense of grief and shock were | | | | may lack perhaps the historic grandeur of the |
| overwhelming as total strangers just blindly | | | | Parthenon in Athens or the Coliseum in Rome |
| made their way to Kensington Palace to lay | | | | but through out London you will find examples |
| flowers at the peoples memorial. Then at the | | | | of perhaps a more modern architecture (though |
| other end of the spectrum you have London the | | | | no less splendid and impressive) such as the |
| day of the "Live 8" Festival in Hyde Park | | | | mother of all parliaments, the Houses of |
| where the city centre was brought to a | | | | Parliament in Westminster or the serenity of |
| standstill with blaring rock music belting | | | | St Paul's Cathedral a survivor of many |
| out across the entire City Centre. There is | | | | centuries and in many ways every bit as |
| so much history in London, real live, vibrant | | | | impressive now as in the days of its design |
| living history in London that sometimes when | | | | under the architect Sir Christopher Wren. If |
| you live there it just passes you by and you | | | | nothing else the building of St Paul's |
| take everything for granted. Take the | | | | Cathedral is a testament to survival itself |
| changing of the guard for instance. This | | | | having both survived the Great Fire of London |
| happens everyday at Betty and Phil's place at | | | | in the 16th Century and then four hundred |
| the end of the mall. OK I should be slightly | | | | years later the Blitz in World War II. |
| less flippant. I am of course referring to | | | | Perhaps this encompasses the overall appeal |
| Buckingham Palace, home of Queen Elizabeth II | | | | of London, the historic blend of the old and |
| and Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh found | | | | the new. Come and visit London, it won't |
| at the end of the Mall. Perhaps the most | | | | disappoint. |
| notable of the Changing of the Guards in | | | | |