Reunited with The Sights and Sounds of London

When I was studying Theology and Religious Studies at university, I used to explore a lot of London on fieldwork trips and it was a really good experience for me because I am the type of person who needs a bit of a push sometimes to step out of my comfort zone.  A couple of weeks ago, I was having a bit of a down day and it suddenly crossed my mind just how much I used to enjoy my little trips round London and that there were so many of the major places of interest that I hadn't seen.  I thought to myself, 'I'd love to go to London again' and then I thought 'why not today!'  I often feel a bit guilty about having exciting days out as I'm currently on sick leave from work due to struggles with my mental health.  However, I then try to talk myself round by telling myself that I'm not going to get better by staying cooped up inside pretending to be a physically ill person. Illnesses come in different forms and it helps in my recovery to go out to places.

So off to London I went and I thought I'd share with you some of the photographs I took during my trip.

Covent Garden was the main place that I was itching to visit because I had never been before.  This is pretty crazy when I only live about an hour's train journey away from London, I've just never got round to it.  I had seen lots of photos of the structure of the roof but it was amazing to see it in person.  Covent Garden had a really great, buzzing atmosphere.  There were so many great places to eat and I was really excited to see Jamie Oliver's restaurant.  I have to admit, I was too scared to go in any of the shops as they had all the expensive designer stores such as Chanel and Burberry and I would have felt a bit out of place venturing inside them but it was great to see them for the first time, if only from the outside!

What I love about London from a photographic perspective are all the opportunities for experimenting with some colour popping.  I like how it can illuminate the iconic features within an image.  

I was quite pleased with my attempts.

I took a brief walk along a stretch of the Thames which was really refreshing as it was an unusually hot day and there was a lovely cooling breeze.  I was intrigued by this boat.  Apparently it's called a Dazzle Boat and was used in WW1 to confuse U-boats.

I decided to take a walk to St Paul's Cathedral as I've always had fond memories of the place.  I visited a number of times when I was at university.  Once I went to the Evensong service there and it is something that has always stuck in my mind.  I had never been inside the cathedral before and I was quite overwhelmed by just how magnificent the interior appeared.  That combined with the most poignant and transcending music made for a very memorable experience.  I would really recommend that if you wish to visit St Paul's, you consider going to one of the Evensong services.  It allows you to see the inside of the cathedral for free and to experience St Paul's being used for the purpose it was intended.  Don't worry if you're not overly religious, you can slip in quietly and the focus of the service is more upon the music rather than anything else.

On the Millennium Bridge, there was a street seller releasing some giant bubbles.  For something so simple, I think it created quite a magical atmosphere!

Here are some shots I took of the Millennium Bridge.  I can never look at it without thinking about seeing it being destroyed in one of the Harry Potter films - I've always thought that was an amazing piece of footage. 

I had never seen The Shard before, which probably shows that I hadn't visited London for quite a fair while.  I was very excited to see it as from the photos I had seen, it looked absolutely mesmerising.  

It certainly didn't disappoint.

As I travelled back home on the train, as cheesy as it sounds, it dawned on me just how content I was.  

A few months ago, a day out like this would have felt absolutely impossible for me.  At some points my anxiety was so bad that I would spend weekends shut in my bedroom, having panic attacks over the prospect of going downstairs, let alone go out the front door.  Anxiety can become so crippling.  London is a busy place, involves a fairly long train journey for me and I really don't have a very good history with trains where my anxiety is concerned.  It just felt so liberating to make possible what once seemed like mission impossible.  I still have a lot of struggles with my anxiety but recently it has been starting to feel as though I'm getting somewhere.  It seems all the more wonderful after experiencing so many set-backs when trying to tackle my anxiety in the past.

I hope that all those suffering with anxiety will come to have many a happy day as free from worry as possible because it is days such as these that make all our struggles and ceaseless determination worthwhile.

The One Day Seeker