Why London?

Many years ago, when I visited London for the first time, I felt something deep inside me. A nostalgic and melancholic sensation. It was strange, I had never been there before, but I felt as if I had returned home after a far-away life. London, London. A close friend of mine maintains that in a previous life I had made my existence in that city, the city, the metropolis, the centre of the world. However I’m not sure that I lived a happy life, because often nostalgia merges with an overwhelming loneliness. Writing about, talking about, looking at old photographs, searching for online information, bring those first sensations back to me. Who knows who I was, man, woman, animal, poor, rich, illiterate, educated… if I had lived in one of those lovely Victorian houses with soft carpets caressing my feet.

If I concentrate and close my eyes I can smell London. If I suddenly woke up blindfolded in any one of its’ streets I couldn’t be mistaken, I would know it by its smell. Every city has its own. For example Cagliari welcomes you with the smell of wind, Rome with its dusty smell of travertine. And London… is a mix of spices, humidity, water and the tube.

I would love to go back, I like fantasizing about a future transfer, every so often I suffer looking at flats to rent or buy near Hyde Park, Soho, Camden and Fitzrovia. I certainly couldn’t ever afford it, but at the moment dreams are free. Making Kaede and Rey live in the places I love is part of the dream. I made them walk, eat, drink, breathe in those places which will always remain embedded in my heart.

Please London, don’t go away