When I was a kid we played the London bridge game, where we sang the London bridge song and two kids made an arch and lower down the arch to catch a kid who passes through when the “my fair lady” bit is sung.Recalling it now,I think we were fooled as kids, but what do we know during those days, being wide eyed, crude little girls in a small unheard of city in The Philppine Islands, we weren’t suppose to know. I’ve lived in the UK and recently moved to London and I just wanna say to my playmates before, if you’re reading this, that I’ve crossed the London bridge a number of times—-they lied to us.
And as much as that song was the anthem of my childhood, the last months of moving into,adjusting and being overwhelmed of finally living the London dream have made me note some songs that actually describe my crashing into, and being consumed by the big city of my dreams.
So here in no particular order are the top three songs that describe my new life in London:
1. HEROES BY ALESSO FT. TOVE LO It’s that song you probably hear a lot in the radio but don’t know the title of, I love this song and the beat to it. The lyrics of the song especially that part that says ” Anybody’s got the power, they don’t see it cos they don’t understand, spin around and run for hours, you and me we got the world in our hands.We could be heroes.” Well its true, in London you sort of got the world in your hands. I guess we’re also talking figuratively and sort of literally here since as a nurse I sometimes feel the world( and some of it’s blood and body fluids) is in my hands by default, and yes its what I do and what I chose to do. Ironically,in the picture above I’m(my shadow is)pretending to be a bond girl and, well, unless you’re not a girl, who doesn’t want to be one? In London, you can be anything, you can be a bond girl(or pretend to be one) be a nurse,or be heroes, like what we are secretly everyday by default.
2.SOMEONE NEW-HOZIER
(please click highlighted letters to watch video of song)
3. RUN-SNOWPATROL
“Light up light up as if we have a choice, louder louder and we run for our lives” as the song goes and true enough London is a city for running and I’ve never run more in my life since I came here, lots of nice parks to go running in, marathons to conquer and just because everyone seems to be running anyway, either because they want to or they have to. Why I run in London can be summarised in this scribble of a poem, I think I must’ve written in boredom:(it could be a rap song, just imagine some beats)
London I run, I run because I can
I run because I’m late
for work or another date
I run for the bus I run for the train
I run to be happy, sometimes I run from the pain
I run to be fit, I run cos I’m free
I run cos this city will always run with me
(yeah peace out y’all)
(please click highlighted word to watch video of song)
There you go, my story of moving into London in three songs.
“Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life , for there is, in London, all that life can afford”——-Samuel Johnson
and true enough, in London you can see all that life can afford, as for a wide-eyed crude little school girl from an obscure city in The Philippine Islands, London is a wonderland I’m glad I’ve stumbled upon.
( a doodle with my name somewhere near Leicester square–not my doing.)