Andrew Duncan highly recommended

I walked around St James after work today. It’s quite nice but it’s bizarre wandering past the shops seeing priceless antiques on sale, of the sort that I’ve only ever seen in galleries and museums. It was odd seeing things in Christies advertised at more than the cost of an ordinary person’s house and it struck me again what a city of extremes London is – the very poor and the very rich living side by side. It must be odd to own a surviving piece of C15th statue or Elizabethan painting and keep it just in your house for only you and your friends to see. What a good thing that someone thought to set up galleries and museums for all of us.

St James is of course very affluent and full of exclusive tailors, wine shops, large houses, and of course St James Palace. I’ve discovered that you can just wander into Christies and look at the stuff so I’m going back to do that. I saw the London Library which unfortunately costs to join and had a good look through the railings into St James park. I also saw the Spencer House which is where Princess Diana lived while in London – just round the corner from her ex-husband and mother-in-law. That have been cosy! I was using Andrew Duncan’s Walking London to navigate my way around and I have to say that I love the book. If you’re planning to spend anytime in London I highly recommend that you get hold of one of his books because you really feel that you are seeing different parts of London and lots of little nooks and crannies that you wouldn’t be brave enough to venture into.

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