And the month just slips away...

But this morning I awoke to the most extraordinary sepia sky.

October, already? Bah!

No, I'm not going to revisit that old cliche about how time seems to be trotting along at a much quicker pace nowadays (even though it's true) and instead I'm going to ramble.

Yesterday I went for a walk. I'd traipsed up to Queen's Park to drop off a timesheet, a journey which had taken a bizarrely long time. Queen's Park is still in London, but it took me an hour and a half to get there. No delays, no trains standing for twenty minutes in a tunnel, but still: an hour and a half. By the time I arrived in Queen's Park, I felt travel-sick.

I haven't been travel-sick in years. It assaulted me regularly when I was a kid, but this was the first time in about twenty years that I've had that squicky feeling my stomach. So instead of travelling directly home - as I planned - I went for a walk instead.

And what a nice walk it was, too! I walked down to Westbourne Park, past the Grand Union Canal, skirted around Notting Hill (at least, I think I skirted it. I might have been in it. I've no idea) and ended up walking down Bayswater, past Whiteley's shopping centre and down to Kensington Park. That was lovely. I walked through the park until I reached Hyde Park, and then followed the road to Marble Arch. As I walked, I simply enjoyed. No iPod, no stories. Just me, and the city.

Because I do love London. No, that's not strong enough. I adore this city, entirely and completely. Really. I feel safe here, protected.

More than that, I enjoy it, as I enjoy the company of other people. There's a spirit to this place, a personality. I've lived here for over ten years, and it's still new. I'd never walked down this part of London before, you see, though I've flitted through it, so yesterday was filled with the joys of discovering something new about somebody you thought you knew well. There's endless contrast, there's the architecture, there's the distinctive flavour of each different area. There's discovery, there's beauty. Oh, yes. I love this city.

I also love this city in this season. Kensington Park was beautiful, with the squirrels out in full force, digging away at the soil. I know a lot of people dismiss them as vermin, but they make me laugh. Because it was Friday, and during working hours, the place wasn't that busy, and I also got to see the park-workers at their industry, maintaining the dignity and beauty of the place. 

So a good day in all, right? Except for one thing: I want to revisit the start of my novel, begin it a point in the story when something is actually happening. I've been meaning to revisit it since the beginning of the week and, somehow, I haven't. I don't know why, but I do know that my reluctance means something more than laziness.