Author: Joanna Chan
-
Five stages of settling
From the first night’s panic to the quiet rituals that slowly make a foreign city feel like home Moving to London in your 20s is quite exciting, whilst at the same time, a bit frightening. Before the city becomes familiar, you must navigate the awkward, in-between stage of settling in: unfamiliar supermarket aisles, lost luggage,…
-
A rainy Sunday at Tate Britain
We shelter inside London’s famous gallery to discover how J.M.W. Turner’s chaotic canvases teach us to finally embrace the London Grey The British are famous for endlessly discussing the weather, but the longer you live in London, the more you realise it is not just small talk, it dictates the rhythm of life here. A…
-
Where the city breathes
Eight liminal spaces in London that belong to everyone London is fast and demanding. But if you look closely, hidden between the chaos are pockets of silence – somewhere that belong to no one, and therefore, belong to everyone. Spaces to pause, catch your breath, and let the city flow around you. 01. St. Pancras…
-
Cutting through the noise
What a salon chair can reveal about London’s culture of small talk – and how newcomers learn to find their voice. For Samantha Chow, a hairstylist working in central London, the salon mirror reflects more than a finished haircut. It is a crash course in British class, hidden anxieties, and the awkward politics of paying…