All big cities are something like this. Labyrinths, shale, organic mosaics. In the really big cities you get liminal spaces, but these are for another time and other stories. London: the first settlement here was probably about 3000 years ago, settlers who found the Thames and started living by its ready source of water and food.
The Thames is still here: I feel sorry for it, every time I cross it. It is bound in chains of iron. Shackled, fettered, double-crossed. A mighty river that ends up feeding the sea, and London. And during its journey, the Thames is polluted and taken for granted, driven through by rapid boats and spat on and shat on by tourist and native alike. It has been, for a very long time.
The Thames is still here: I wish it well, every time I cross it.
