LONDON

I have been in London the last three days, a short business trip. Having not visited since the Olympics last summer, here are a few thoughts.

1. Travel is expensive. The return train fare from Stansted Airport cost more than my Ryanair airline ticket from Denmark. And a return ticket on the tube now costs over £8, which seemed rather a lot. True, you can get an Oyster card, but that's the sort of thing I always seem to remember after I have bought my ticket and/or left the country.

2. It was summer weather in both Denmark and England this week. Yet 25 degrees in the middle of a city, wearing a suit, is a hell of a different proposition from 25 degrees at home in the country, wearing shorts. In fact, it doesn't require much heat for London to be quite unbearable, the air in the tube blocks your nose, you start to sweat, and so on. I think I am a pretty fit 53-year old, but I always get very tired in London. I suppose I am just no longer used to all of this urban rushing around.

3. Of which there is lots. There seemed to be people everywhere, both locals and tourists. I had to meet someone near Tottenham Court Road (which is currently an enormous building site owing to construction of the Crossrail interchange station), and it was ant-like.

4. All of which confirms my thought that London is somewhere to visit in small doses, but is not a place where I would like to live. Not that I could afford it anyway.

Walter Blotscher