Flaming Nora

I originally wrote this blog post on the 4th anniversary of the London bombings in 2009 when I worked in London. It's worth reposting.  On my way to work this morning, I walked through Russell Square Park just like I’ve done for almost every working day of the seven years I’ve lived in London. But this morning I took a different route through the park to stand by the oak tree planted as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the London bombings, four years ago to the day. I know how lucky I was that day. I know. I was one of thousands of Piccadilly line commuters who, if we’d left the house a couple of minutes earlier / later / hadn't stopped to buy a paper, could have been on the tube train which exploded between King's Cross and Russell Square tube stations. When I did eventually reach central London that morning, I then walked to work past Tavistock Square where the bomb on the bus exploded later that morning. I heard it from my office. The memorial oak tree...

I don't want to repeat a blog post I wrote about the London bombings of July 7 2005, but I do urge you to read it. It's here. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Ok London, I'm ready to move on. We've had nine wonderful years together and it's been good while it lasted but I've been feeling unsettled for a long time, as you know. I want more. I want to see other people, family, friends. It's not you, it's me. Just let me go, please.

It's the ninth anniversary of my move from up north to that London. This is how I blogged about the eighth year.

The blog's been pretty quiet of late and the reason is that there's a lot of life taking place, if you know what I mean. Too much life, but it's all good stuff, in fact it couldn't be better. Yes, my lovely reader, I'm finally leaving London and moving back up north. My regular readers (hello mum) will know I've had this love/hate thing going on with the big city ever since I moved down here in 2001. I've moaned about it often enough on the blog. And yes, there's been joy and excitement about living in London mixed in with the moans, but after eight and a half years of living in the smoke, some time in 2010 I'll be heading back north, to home. We both are, my lovely man and I. And so, it's with a huge amount of relief that I can finally blow off the air-kissers and their meaningless cheek to cheek mwah-mwahs. I'm calling time on the people who say: "I'll call you!", "We must do lunch!", "Let's get together ...

Why can't people in London use a bus properly? When they're not sitting on the outside seat, covering the seat by the window with their bag and being unsocial about letting anyone else sit there, then they're all squashed up together on the bottom deck when there's loads of empty seats upstairs. And no one says thank you to the driver, either. No one.

Now that I've lived in London for over eight years, I feel I can blog with some authority on the city, don't you think? So if you're planning a trip to the capital, here's my top 10 favourite things to do in that London. 1. The London Eye . I've been on it four times, even though I'm scared of heights. 2. Sir John Soane's Museum . A hidden gem in Holborn and it's free. 3. Borough Market. Get there early before the tourists. 4. Ride the Thames in a London Duck . 5. Sit on Kirsty MacColl's bench in Soho Square. 6. Royal Festival Hall. My favourite building in London, followed by a walk along the Southbank. 7. London Transport Museum will release your inner tube-driver. 8. Imperial War Museum has some fantastic tanks. Yes, really. 9. Churchill Museum and Cabinet war rooms . A sobering experience. 10. Saint Clement Danes Church. Turn up at 12 noon and the bells really do chime Oranges and Lemons . And now for some tips. Do yourself a favour and avo...

Regular readers will know that living in London does my head in , at times, anyroad. If it's not crowds , it's lack of clean air and space, but this time, it's the constant hum of the city that's cheesing me off. Ah, I sense familiar symptoms. Feeling stressed with London and homesick at the sight of seagulls ? I therefore prescribe myself a few days up north with family to cure my ills.

First things first – I never lose my cool. Faced with most kinds of problems I can usually see both sides, weigh things up, shrug my shoulders and when in doubt, walk away. I've been practising yoga for seven years, so heck, you know, that makes me kind of zen. That’s not to say I’m a pushover and when I have a point to make, it gets made, in the nicest possible way. So that’s me, usually laidback and generally calm. Now forget all you’ve just read because on Saturday night I lost my temper with a stranger on the tube. Not only did I blow my top with the homophobe who was giving a young gay couple a hard time in a packed tube carriage, I stood up to him, with full eye contact blaring and left him, I hope, in no uncertain terms about how very out of order he was. This all happened on the way home after a wonderful day in central London at Pride 2009. From pride to shame in thirty minutes flat.

It's eight years this weekend since I left the warmth of the north for the smug of the south to come and live in London with my lovely man. And although I make the most of living in the capital, the bright lights mask the fact the streets are not paved with gold but with pigeon poo and disappointed dreams. Or is that disappointed pigeons and poo dreams? Either way, you know what I mean. Some times, living in London makes me feel like this... And other times, fortunately most of the time, like this... But still, I don't half get homesick.

News that Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans has told city residents to " get their butts out " as Hurricane Gustav hits, made me wonder what the London mayor would say and do under the same circumstances. I think it'd go something like this. Right, chaps, bit of a problem. With the weather, I think. Yes, that's right, rain, wind, whoosh, big storms, floods. Cripes. Hurricane Ken I'm calling it, what? Right then. Gosh. Hands out of pockets, stop playing trouser ping-pong, put on serious face time. So um, yes, run for the hills, we're all going to die from a big storm. A very big storm. What would Granny Butter do? Cripes. Yes, chaps, make for the airports. Or better still, take the bus. The big, red, shiny Routemaster bus. I love 'em, don't you? Bring 'em back, that's what I say. I did say, didn't I? Crumbs. Anyhoo, head for the bus or those other things, those long things, the ones that pull out of stations, lots of steam, Choo Choo! So that...

“Where are we?” my fella asked when our train got stuck in a tunnel this week on our way to work on the tube. We were deep, deep underground in a mess of tracks, wires and heat, buried beneath crumbling sewers, the remains of dead rats, sitting in a lifeless carriage breathing in other people’s dust, hair, snot, fear. “Just outside of Kings Cross,” I replied.

This summer will mark my 7th year of living in London. So it's time to take stock and think on what I've learned in that time. Being a Northerner and living in London has made me realise the following things, in no particular order: 1. When people in London say: "W e really must have lunch, I'll give you a ring, " there's no point waiting by the phone . 2. When you're given a job by the nation's second major media company and they tell you: " You're sensational" and "You're just what we've been looking for ", take their words with a hefty pinch of salt. 2a. A dream job should stay in your dreams (see 2 above) 3. When collapsing on the tube through work-related stress (see 2 above) there are kind and helpful people who will come to your boyfriend's aid to help move your unconscious body off the train and onto the platform. Thankyou, kind man. 4. There are kind and helpful people who will help you cope with panic att...

It's Capital Woman day on Saturday, March 8. Mark the date in your diary and register for your ticket now. If you're a woman and live in London, this is one of the best days in the city. And it's free too.

To Trafalgar Square today in central London to have a look at the new artwork on the fourth plinth. I don't know much about art, but I know what I like, and I liked this enough to take some pictures and blog 'em to share.

If, like me, you like gardening and you're a bit nosy, you might just like the Open Garden Squares Weekend in London. It's this coming Saturday and Sunday 9-10th June. You can get into gardens that are normally closed to the public. One garden we saw last year was a roof-top garden on a Kensington store that had flamingos in it. It's a bit corporate though, owned by Virgin, but still very interesting and well worth a look. Did you know there's a garden on top of John Lewis in Oxford Street? It's not on the list of open gardens this year but it's been open in the past on the special weekend. Anyway, it's definitely worth spending £6 on a ticket for a peek at secret and hidden areas of London. Mind you, your ticket won't get you into this garden here, it's ours.

The Royal Festival Hall has had a make-over and I'm looking forward, very much, to seeing it in all its glory. I like the building a lot. It was the first public space I felt comfortable in when I first moved to London. After learning how to air-kiss and discovering the niceties of living in London were a lot more superficial than those back up north, sitting down to enjoy an egg and cress sandwich lunch while working at a woman's mag on the South Bank somehow seemed to put things in perspective. Not every place in London is up its own backside, and the Royal Festival Hall most definitely isn't. I hope they haven't changed it too much.

To Brixton Academy on Friday night to see James. A fab night, a brilliant gig and a mad sign by the stage depicting No Crowd Surfing which made no difference whatsoever to lead singer Tim Booth. A great gig. PS: I'm not sad enough to take my phone to gigs to take pics, I found this online. People were searched going into the Academy for drugs and such. If only mobile phones and video cameras could have been confiscated too.

R obert Elms is a name perhaps more familiar to those who live in London rather than those who live out. He does an excellent show on BBC Radio London and pops up as a paid talking head on loads of shows about London too. He's also a journalist and was one of the major New Romantics back in the '80s. I've just finished reading his book A Life In Threads: The Way We Wore and recommend it highly to anyone - by which I mean everyone - with an interest in clothes, music and youth culture but particularly and especially, to anyone (like me), who used to dress like this.

April in the garden and all is bright and flowery. Went to our local garden centre this morning to get some seed potatoes and spotted Mackenzie Crook (from The Office and Pirates of the Carribbean) in there buying bags of compost and plants. I've ticked him off the list of celebs I've spotted since moving to London. The garden centre's in a part of north London close to Muswell Hill and Crouch End where the moneyed media people live. Me, I live on t'other side of the tracks.