Local vs. London

The demolition of the cooling towers on Sunday brought something home to me: that living here we now live in a "proper place" where people have roots and links and connections.  The thing about London is that although we knew our own area well, and other parts we had lived in, we didn't belong - All the hype nowadays about London being a "world city" is true in a rather negative way.  One doesn't feel it belongs to oneself - because one has no stake in it - one only has a stake in Camberwell or Highgate or wherever.  We have our small communities, but the vastness of it is alienating.  No one says "I remember when this was all fields" or some equivalent statement.  Because very few people have been there long enough to remember.  I am sure there were people in Walworth whose ancestors were living there when the Normans arrived - but I doubt whether many of them knew or cared about it.   There is local history in London - but it's not quite so grounded somehow.  Or maybe I just never met the right people.

Arguably there is just too much local history around here - but it was interesting hearing about how people had connections with the power station at Richborough.  And how they linked the demise of the towers to personal events or emotions.  There is a connectedness.  Of course the downsides are well known, but I won't go over them again here.  At least we do have an art gallery to go to on Sunday afternoons now.