London Calling: 26 Years Later, the Good, the Bad and the £7 Pint!
There are few things more enlightening than returning to a city you once called home, particularly when that city has spent the better part of three decades being described as either the greatest place on Earth or a civilisation teetering on the brink of collapse. London, apparently, is both. According to the steady stream of news, social media commentary and WhatsApp wisdom that reaches us in South Africa, Britain has become a crime-ridden, immigrant-overrun, economically crippled disaster zone where nobody can afford to live and civilisation is hanging on by its fingernails. Naturally, I was curious; and a little afraid! Having lived in London in 1999 and 2000, and returned several times since, I recently spent two weeks reacquainting myself with the old girl. My last visit was eight years ago, so I was expecting a few changes. What I wasn't expecting was to find a city that, in many respects, looks and feels better than I can ever remember. Although, as I soon disc...