Tonight:
5°c
Stand fast against slowing down London
Esther Walker15 Apr 2009
I've always found the "slow movement" a bit of a joke. Slow food, produced organically and sustainably, is obviously a good thing. Being generally "slow", on purpose, is impossibly stupid. But it's catching on. Slowly. This month sees the start of a 10-day Slow Down London festival.
The festival will supposedly "give Londoners a chance to explore slow music and arts; to try meditation and yoga; to sample slow food and crafts; to discover 'slow travel' in our own city; to debate ideas about time and pace; and to find our own ways to challenge the cult of speed".
But what's wrong with speed? With efficiency and being busy? People who think those things are bad are always disorganised, dozy lumps who can't make a list and don't know how to prioritise.
Everyone else thinks getting things done quickly is great. I'm ecstatic, for example, when ambulance drivers, builders and boiler repair-men are prompt. If that's all a "cult of speed", sign me up.
We move fast around London not because we are stressed-out drones but because we are on our way somewhere more interesting than a damp London pavement. London streets are not chilled places to hang out in. If London had the climate of Madrid and the hygiene standards of Geneva, things would be different.
As it is, there is too much to do in London to dawdle. There are cocktails to drink, famous people to stare at and parties to crash - and a lot of these things happen only once.
Say no to that dinner party because you're a bit tired and you might not meet the love of your life; miss seeing that play before it transfers to Broadway and that's it, pal. And where would you really rather be when Michael Jackson plays the O2? At home, making jam?
We can do slow, too. Yoga was practically invented in Primrose Hill; Borough Market, a slow food Mecca, has been going for 10 years. But as a way of life? Surely that's the main reason for the existence of, say, Chichester.
We want to cram as much as we can into our lives because that's what life is. That's what London is for.
So I just hope the Slow Down movement and their festival are as inefficient as I assume and the whole thing is a shambles. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to dash.
