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