London

I think it was Samuel Johnson who said 'When one is tired of London, one is tired of life'. London has a magic about it which transcends mundane things like rain, wind, fog. People who talk about London in terms of weather are missing the point, sadly. You don't GO to London for the weather. If you want sunshine, go to Cape Town, go to Barbados, go to Sydney. If you want that smorgasboard of opportunities, art, fine dining, music, history, poetry, theatre ... go to London. And if you're not that into that, I'm not that into you. Sorry.

I loved living in London for those 3 years that I was there. I loved working my 2 crappy jobs which enabled me to see loads of theatre and sample foods I'd never even heard of. I was nowhere ready to leave, but I'm sure I never would have been. I absolutely adore going back and I would live there again in a heartbeat. I was so lucky to have 2 days there this week with Sascha.

Sascha GETS me and he knows what I want to do and how I want to do it. Thirty years of friendship kind of does that. He is happy enough to sit on the man couch in dress shops and give me critical feedback on what I try on. He knows I'm happy to idle the hours away in Starbucks and he is too. We're both happy to watch dodgy made-for-TV movies and not speak at all. There are no awkward silences, no apologies, no fragile egos or walking on eggshells. It's peaceful. It's relaxing. Being GOT on that kind of level is so rare and I am so grateful.

I tend to acclimate myself with the tone and mood of where I am quite easily. Dublin is fairly bleak at the moment and the general tone is one of resentment for jobs lost, bonuses cut, mortgages which cannot be paid, holidays which have had to be cancelled... There is a wistfulness for how things were, a bitterness too. The two topics of conversation here are a) the woeful weather b) the recession. It is not a happy place to be. It has steadily begun to do my head in and I craved escape. London restores me to who I am in my most authentic sense. I am invigorated by the pace of life there, I feel so energised by the frenetic activity and the constant stimulation. In London, I smile all the time.

I feel happy to be back now and to see my boys. I hope to return to London in 2010 with them and show my little guy around the great city. The good news is that I'm well rid of Nasty November and December is just Divine so far!