...and somehow London looks ugly. The dress-code is deliberately-torn beachwear....for females, very tiny, tight, ripped shorts and fleshy posteriors. For males, oldish teeshirts and ripped-knee jeans. Very loud rock music from ricksaws. People crammed together along the South Bank, with litter stacked on walls and on street corners, mostly randomly, sometimes alongside overflowing litterbins. Cans, pizza-boxes, a lot of chicken bones and pizza crusts, discarded chips in expanded-polystyrene containers, more cans. Plastic bags flapping against bus stops and lamp posts.
People are very much out and about: lots of crowds. But somehow the mood isn't merry. Will this year have a hot summer season of riots and anger?
I had spent part of the afternoon pondering History Walks...several new ideas from routes mapped out over recent weeks. The prospect of good company and a sense of cheerful purpose. But suddenly the idea seemed stale and dull. London's mix of boarded-up shops and scruffy beachwear gives a gloomy feel.
We are promised cooler weather for Easter, but a very hot summer to follow.