A London Milestone

A rather unpleasant rhinovirus, or similar, has laid me out, hence the absence of my blog. But I have started painting again and new stuff should be up soon.

Meanwhile, something significant happened.

The population of the zone known as Greater London topped 8.641m this January, beating the 1939 record and hence creating the largest population the zone has ever known.

Greater London is an artificial area that most people would think of as central London, as opposed to Central London or The City of London. I worked nearly all my adult life in Central West London but always lived outside Greater London even when I lived in London before I moved to the outer suburb ring in the Home Counties.

Not sure what the population of London & the Home Counties complex now is but given that GL is up by almost a third we may be looking at around 28 or even 30m.

That's a lot of people, a lot of money, and a lot of power.

The Emperor Clausius knew not what he started when he built a bridge for his legions to march across the Thames.

   "She looked out over the blaze of light that was London. Streams of cars flowed down the radial roads into the city’s heart like blood cells along arteries. London was still alive, thanks to her and her friends. What was a Shternberg compared to the greatest city in the world?

   Jameson followed her eyes and guessed at her thoughts. “London’s beautiful from the sky at night when she’s all lit up in her finery. She’s a raddled old wrinkled tart of a town, a bit past her best and a little tatty at the edges, but she still scrubs up well,” he said. He raised a hand in salute. “Here’s to your next two thousand years,” he said to the city."

Wolf in Shadow