I was born in Battersea, ten minute walk from the power station and Battersea fun fair. Lived in 'rooms' in an uncles house but when I was a year old the GLC built huge estates 20 miles out west and swathes of people were 'moved out' to relieve the overcrowding in London, we were fortunate to be moved to the outskirts of Slough, all new houses, shops, churches, doctors surgeries, schools, we even had indoor bathrooms.
My mum missed London to the point she would cry and consequently, through most of my early childhood we would go to London and stay with relatives in Battersea, Chelsea and Victoria at weekends. I felt sorry for 1 cousin who lived in a place with no bathroom and would have a weekly dip at the public baths.
Eventually I grew to dislike London, the traffic, the dirt, and saw less of it as I grew older, a few teenage trips into Soho and then nothing for years.
Through a contact I started working in London on an occasional basis, St Johns Wood, and around that time we would visit london at weekends, Chinatown, Leicester Square, Covent Garden. I loved the buzz.
Then I started to find it (not for the first time) a little intimidating and threatening so we stopped visiting again, other than the odd concert at Wembley Arena.
After moving to Cornwall I made my mind up that I'd be happy to never see the place again, and that feeling lasted for about ten years. Then, unexpectably, I miss the place, I miss the buzz, I miss the diversity, I love visiting the outskirts now and I'd love a city break in London.
Funny innit.