9:35 p.m. - 2013-03-10
Life In London

It's March and I've failed miserably at the daily diary. A long leave break in January followed by all the time I’ve spent in London on my new secondment project has kept me from any personal indulgences. London, especially the financial district has been an eye opener for how the city dwellers live and work. It was exciting to start with but I find myself yearning for the hills and countryside of home more often as the days go by.

I cross tower bridge every morning on my way to the crazy world of the city traders at Goldman Sachs and the madness is becoming more routine. My working life has changed so much and throwing myself into a career has been a mixed blessing. I enjoy the work but have little time for a social life or someone to love. I sometimes feel more alone in the company of the new friends and colleagues I have met than when I’m sitting in my hotel room alone watching cable TV with a minibar as company.

To that end, I answered an ad on the staff intranet page for a flat share in Bermondsey to suit a single professional person. The rent is expensive but my new employer has agreed to pay half for the duration of my year long secondment. I’m also now on London weighting allowance so I can easily afford it. I met up in the staff restaurant with the person who advertised the room to let. She works in the same office as me, just along the corridor from the Trading floor and I think she’s an accountant.

Her name is Paulina. She has career woman written all over her and no wedding or engagment ring on her finger. She is immaculately dressed, and maybe five but not more than ten years younger than me. She’s polite and well spoken with a hint of an eastern European accent. She’s also your average eastern European beauty. Long dark brown hair, brown eyes, flawless skin, and a face and figure that would launch a thousand ships. The meeting went well and she says I can move in as soon as I like once the paperwork is signed and my deposit is paid. She said she likes my Scottish accent. I have a good feeling about this and getting out of my hotel room can’t happen soon enough.

There is one thing though. I’ve had the strangest feeling since I arrived here. I can’t put my finger on it but it's as if there is something or someone familiar out there in this sprawling metropolis I might know. Sometimes it feels stronger and other times weaker. Like being hot or cold. Closer to the sun or farther away from it. I don’t understand it, and it troubles me deeply.