1 in 7.5 million

Being the statistic of me in London.

It's kind of nuts, really, to try to fathom just how many people that actually is. It mightn't be all that high a figure in the grand scheme of things vis. Chongqing with 31M, Mumbai with 13M, Sao Paolo with 11M, or Seoul with 10M, but it's pretty staggering all the same. We're just a smidgen behind New York, though in terms of community, I get the distinct impression from my Atlantic-straddling friends that it's a lot less easy to feel isolated in London than it is in New York.

Give me a sense of community any day.

Yesterday, I undertook the everyday task of walking from London Bridge all the way west along the river to Wimbledon. This took about four hours at a friendly pace, since the river route is quite a bit longer than the direct one, but it was incredible fun, and perhaps all the more so for being alone. Not to suggest that I didn't want the company -- I really did -- but it was nice to get in some me-time with my favourite Big City, and my how she roared in the hot Spring sunshine.

There was talk and laughter, food and drink, some of the best street musicians I've ever heard in this city, and even a whole lot of gaïety to boot. According to Google Earth, the walk home was a respectable 16.7 kilometres (10.4 miles), and during that time I passed at least four gay couples holding hands, and handful of less obvious candidates too.

I guess the warm-gooeyness must have got to me, because a pair of men took me to task on my smile -- they evidently misconstrued it as my thinking that they were an amusing sight to see, a pair of men holding hands.

"No," I said, "I'm really very jealous - I think it's totally lovely, but the hand I usually hold is stuck behind an office desk today!"

"Don't mind him; he's just a bit militant", one apologised.

And fair enough; some people do smirk, and for various reasons, but most of the looks all of these guys were getting seemed to be positive.

It's always a reaffirming thing to see. Even if it was only because they were all plain gorgeous.