of birds, trees and Highgate

A reflection of snippets of my experiences in Highgate, London.

It was a bit of a shock coming back to London after the hustle and bustle of New York that I have grown so accustomed to (and loved) over the past 6 months or so. Coming back I was practically homeless, crashing at a friend's place whilst looking for a flat in the city to share with two of my friends. The experience of looking for a flat in a city like London is both fun and frustrating. We have had near misses with some flats in different areas and there was a point where all of us felt that we may never find that elusive perfect flat in the city and there might just be a case for us going our own separate ways.

It was then that I remembered about this rather little known area (to my friends at least) called Highgate in North London. I remembered going there once with a friend and was immediately smitten by how beautiful the area was. You can't help but to feel that you were not in London anymore, as instead of the shops and concrete buildings, you were surrounded by either parks or beautiful Georgian and Victorian architecture. I knew the area was expensive, so tentatively looking on property websites, we decided to arrange viewings for some of the flats we thought were suitable.

So there we were, on a crisp Saturday morning in Highgate. What really struck us was the moment we got out of the station, we were immediately surrounded by trees all around. A rather rare experience when you live in a city like London. After going to some of the flat viewings, we were able to see more and more of the area, which for me solidifies my desire to live there. No matter where you look, it was mostly residential, with small independent shops popping up here and there. Most of the houses were of beautiful period architecture, well maintained and well groomed. Though after about 3 hours we realised that an idyllic area do not equal affordable and great flats.

We were rather tired and we finally dragged ourselves to the penultimate flat on our list for the afternoon. This was going to be one of the last flats that we would see together as we decided that if we could not find anything this weekend, we would try and go on our separate ways. I was a bit skeptical of this last one as the pictures did not look great, but after about 10 minutes walk from the main street we found ourselves face to face with this period building, probably from the Victorian era or earlier. The flat we viewed was supposed to be the top floor flat, climbing up a set of well maintained stairs, there was an evident feel of excitement as even the landings of the stairs looked well-kept and as we entered the flat, we could not have been more surprised. The pictures really did not do the flat justice. It was far bigger and airier than we thought, with several big windows letting a flood of natural light into the space. Inspecting the space we asked the customary questions about bills, furnishings, council tax and all that jazz.

After about 15 minutes we thanked the woman showing us the flat and made our way out. Walking away from the flat, it was clear all of us were rather struck by it. We were supposed to see another flat, our last flat of the day, and whilst waiting for the agent to show up we pondered upon the flat we just saw. Loitering around in someone else's front yard, we eventually decided that the last flat was the one. After a few calls, references and a (physically) painful and exhausting moving experience, we finally settled into the flat and into Highgate on 1 April 2017.

This post came after a month of living in Highgate, and there's a reason why I opened my London series of posts with Highgate. Living in a big city like New York in the middle of Manhattan really made for a huge contrast when I went back to London. I think I was able to appreciate London so much more now that I have experienced what New York was like. The experience of having clean subway platforms, trees dotting the streets, period architecture and not seeing the sky in strips felt at once both very novel and nostalgic. I never really realised how beautiful London truly is until I have left it for New York.

Highgate is the epitome of what I love about being able to live in London. Where else can I find an area where stepping out of the tube station you will be greeted not with honking cars or fumes from main roads, but rather a small patch of woods? 

I know it sounds weird but even being able to hear the sounds of bird chirping in the morning I consider as a luxury when living in London. So moving here I realised that I have traded my fair share of police sirens with chirping birds, barking dogs, rustling of leaves and the occasional laughing children.

Walking through the streets in Highgate, I felt the same way that I felt when I walked through Central Park on President's day. I felt really lucky and privileged to have been able to be surrounded by such beauty. One of the experiences that I came out of New York with, which resonated very strongly in how I want to continue living my life is the art of finding the beautiful in the mundane and the sublime in the ordinary. 

So after some sweat and tears, here I am, writing this post on the dining table with a cup of hot tea and the sound of my record player and chirping birds intertwining with each other. I do think in some ways, I have found the sublime in the ordinary today.