Postcard from the window

A quiz for the Londoners - work out where I was standing to get that photo! It's quite a view, and would certainly distract me if I worked in that building all the time.

Standing there, taking it in, got me to thinking about a few things, but mainly the fact that you don't often get that perspective on what a beautiful city London is. And the main thing which makes it so is the Thames running through it. Well, that's (unsurprisingly) my take on it. I gave a similar thought to Kerry in Map Reading a while back though. She's up Ben Nevis in this scene, looking out across the Great Glen and reflects:

'Living in London I forget about the horizon,' Kerry said. 'I'm always indoors or on the tube and, unless you get up high, you never get a good view of your surroundings. Then you cross a bridge or look out the window in a tall building and - there it is: London laid out in front of you. It is beautiful, just in a different way to this.'

Quite a contrast in view, but I'm with her – both are beautiful. Apparently, there are studies into the psychological benefits of different types of views. All to do with depth of field of vision, natural or man-made, etc. I don't want to analyse it that much, I just know that variety suits me; I wouldn't want to have to make a definitive choice between architecture or mountains and glens. Maybe it's just the presence of some kind of water in the view that appeals to me.