Thursday 6 December 2007

Spirit of the City

I have recently started some freelance work in London EC2, at an office in a converted warehouse in the maze of streets between Old Street station and Moorgate.

It is an area where 21st-century financial corporations are spreading out from EC1, building mirror-glass and polished granite skyscrapers amid the crumbling decay of 19th-century sweatshops and goods stores. Everywhere there is scaffolding, 'For Sale' and 'To Let' signs and the old juxtaposed with the new.

Even my choice of where to eat offers a similar dichotomy: a traditional greasy spoon cafe or a trendy Cost-a-Lot coffee bar.

The energy in this part of London is very strange indeed. It is vibrant, but also cold and unforgiving. It is a place where I feel I need to appear strong and confident, so I wear my work-face as I walk from the station in the grey morning gloom with the commuting crowds.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So do you, as a witch, embrace the changes, or ty to find the spirit underneath the progress? Just an ask, really - I don't know the answer...

Badwitch said...

Hmmm - interesting. I like to get to know the spirit of a place, especially if it is not a place I am very familiar with. I'm not averse to change.