Memoirs of London - 12

 Other street traders I knew in London were "the mirrors sellers". Except for a few apart in  some isolated places, the mirrors sellers were mostly located in a narrow net of roads around the famous Carnaby Street, the real commercial hub of London’s tourist and rolling on since the epic of the Beatles.

 A little already decayed, but still a great attraction in the second half of the seventies. All the range of the consumer’s  symbols and the new western mythology, which also might be found in the T-shirts sold as souvenirs in the many stores that occupied the short road, the kingdom of cheap and quick tourist shopping , alltogether with the symbols of London, were reproduced on mirrors of different formed and sold on the street in front of those stores, which also constituted their store and warehouse.

From  Marylin Monroe to Humphrey Bogart; from Gin Beef Heart to Coca Cola; from the stylized liberty models to Union Jack, passing through the Irish beers Scottish whiskey, rock bands and even the Royal Family, everything was reproduced on those colored mirrors, gently framed and sold from a minimum of 99 pence to a maximum of £ 20 depending on their size and from  the buyer's tourist wallet and luggage.

The mirrors sellers of this area were almost all Italians or Spanish people.

Young people who had come  up to London in order to study English  language and know the city.  Or may be escaped from the economic and political climate of reflux and, in any case, all invoked by the great fascination that London's capital of Rock Music still exercised on the young people of that poorer Europe and they sought, together with greater freedom, a job that allowed them to   live in a decent way, relying only on their strength and without weighing on the family. Among the Italians stood the young freak looking , distinguished by the seemingly cluttered appearance .

I called them the minor brothers of the sixty-nine revolutioners. But among the mirrors sellers  of Carnaby Street there was an authentic and remarkable representative of the former young’s revolution whose name was Tommy.

12. to be continued...

London for ever - 8

I've read a lot about the terrorist attack, last wednesday, on Westminsterbridge.

When I was in  London, a few decades ago, I felt like living a city full of humanity, full of respect.

Since then, London is still in my heart. A wound made to London it's therefore an offence to my heart.

London has been mother and father at the same time, and all the londoners (I mean all the people who live in London) are my friends.

I used to work and study in London. 

Like anywherealso in the world there are good people and peolple living over there.

I mostly met good people: mannered persons, gentle women, nice friends.

And soon after, every place has got its own genius loci.

The geniuses living in London are all good ones.

As far as London keeps on welcomeing all the good people searching a better life, granting them a new chance of life, those geniuses won't go away from its streets, from its banks, from his parks, from its public houses.

The Evil may be will try again to drive them away, but it won't succeed.

You are a pride for the world my London.

And please,  be what you are for ever.

London for ever - 7

The lambs lie down on Westminster

sacrificied by the shot dead priest

of the nothingness faith

pushed by madness

moved by hate

sent by  pretending prophets

who now are cheering up 

for more victims

in the pantheon web

of foolishness.

But two faults

never can make a why,

and violence can never be justified

even if you had a reason

to be spent

 somewhere.

Men of power,

for the sake of the true 

Merciful God

of the whole humanity,

please, put apart any selfishness

and hear the poor poet

claiming for justice.

In London the 22nd of March 2017

London for ever - 6

London is more than one thousand and a half square meters large and has more than eight and a half millions of inhabitants, which makes London one of the widest capitals in the world (though not one of the most populated).
There are 32 boroughs in London (thirtythree with the City of London which is the number 1 but is not a London Borough, being simply a district, though historically of preminent importance,  without a proper London Borough Council).
Twelve of them are named as Inner London; the remainents are defined instead as Outer London.
There are some administrative differences between the two kinds of Boroughs, though most of people think that Inners are those closer to the City of London, while the Outers should be those more far (both feature are anyway exact).
In the southern boundary we find Croydon, while the western boundaries are delimited by Hillingdon; on the extreme north we find Enfield and on the east boundaries both Bexley and Havering.
It's useful to know that the  boroughs are local authorities, each one of them administrated by its  own London  Borough Council, elected every four years, which is responsible for local services, many of them as important as local education system, housing and libraries.

There is also the Greater London Authority which is responsible for wider services like fire, highways, transports and strategic plannings.

6. to be continued...