Before coming here, I really thought that London would fulfill a couple of critical requirements for an amazing city. The first was the beauty and resilience of London architecture. But when I got here, I quickly realised I had to look up to see most of it. In fact, John R. Murray has written a book about it called London Above Eye Level, where he shows us in a picture book the kinds of things we could be viewing if we just lifted our heads when we walk. The major problem with that being that London is busy enough that you are bound to either get run over or run into someone in the process. There are also more cobblestones in London than a lot of major cities I’ve resided in (Chicago is mostly about modern, clean lines; Korea the same; Japan has some but for the most part I was trying to walk around the visually impaired guidance lines). So It halfway fulfilled my first expectation.

Another assumption I had was that I would move to Chicago after my tenure here. I know the Chicago independent publishing industry is quite strong, particularly in primary and secondary academic books. However, the longer I stay, despite terrible forecasts for a deteriorating industry, the longer I’d like to stay. Despite my stolen wallet (the first time in 20 countries), despite the sometimes tediousness of my course, despite my brain aching for familiarity and not finding it; I have found some kind of strange affinity for this city. Perhaps it is time I perch for a moment.