London's voluminous parks suffer symptoms of parks everywhere

There are many - should I say myriad and almost infinite - things to love about London. It's the city I visit most. But there are aspects of it, while great, that are a little perplexing, and in certain ways not that much different from cities anywhere. The most obvious is parks. This city is teeming with them, and they are voluminous and often sprinkled with delightful gardens (photo below left). I'm staying in West London and parks nearby include Gunnersbury (celebrating its 100th birthday this month and opened by Neville Chamberlain!), Ealing Green, Boston Manor, Syon, Walpole and Dukes Meadows. Some of them take on the character of heaths (there are also many official Heaths) with uncultivated foliage. Many were owned privately and include mansions turned

into museums. They are all quite lovely and impressive. But like parks in Canada and pretty much everywhere else they lack certain essentials - park benches and public toilets  - and feature oodles of wasted space. For all the efforts governments put into encouraging healthy living and "green" over concrete and asphalt they make natural settings rather unattractive to use. The photo above shows Ealing Green with a humongous open field bereft of people or activity when I traversed last week. And hardly a bench to sit on. Walking along the River Thames in the elongated Dukes Meadows Park (10 miles long; I walked two), the pathway juts in and out of foliage

sometimes obstructing river views. And it was partly gravel. An occasional bench had a 1970s chunky design not conducive to relaxing. Restrooms - "Toilets" or "WCs" - were non-existent.

I have been coming to London for years, even decades, and one thing that keeps disappearing is the Britain of old. Forget the bowler hats and Bobby helmets - they went out decades ago. But even the legendary English eccentrics are in decline. I saw one in a tube station on the weekend dressed in a colourful suit and straw hat. And I thought "yes, that's the look and attitude." Meanwhile the manner of street dress is the same as everywhere - elephant or mom pants on young women, hoodies galore and trainers (running shoes) omnipresent. There seems no sense of expressing a British attitude given the country's rich history and physical references (buildings, monuments) everywhere.

The best way to explore London is by simply wandering or hopping on a bus and see where it will lead. The bus routes are long and convoluted (that's a good thing) and take you through the most amazing neighbourhoods, overflowing with retail "high streets" and contrasting and often extremely old residential areas of varying social classes. 

There are also some Brit phrases that are twists on the North American. "Take Away" instead of "Take Out" of course. But "Eat All You Can" instead of "All You Can Eat." And some funny ones like the photo at left -  beware not of dogs but humans.