Was in London the weekend just past - very hot, the Underground stifling. Dont know if I was there in the height of the summer season before, the parts I visited seemed brisk and bright and making an effort. More police and less derelicts than I remember, unwelcome though the sight of a policeman strolling across Trafalger Square with a H-K sub-machine gun, seems excessive.
People less polite on the roads too, I remember my first time in London about fifteen years ago being impressed at how cars would stop for me at a zebra crossing -- almost always. Very rarely now, unless you step right out in front of them.
