It has a joie de vivre that bad weather, inner city tensions and the spiralling cost of living cannot suppress. London is a sizzling wok, where yesterday, today and tomorrow bubble over, seasoned with new cultural ingredients and loads of attitude. Hot, hot London is just maybe the coolest city on the planet.

This city is a paradox. A sometimes vibrant, sometimes grimy easel, on which wildly contradictory images are juxtaposed. Where urban kitsch exists cheek by jowl with pastoral grandeur, blazing neon clashes with soft green, where the stiff upper lip keeps its counsel while the avant-garde raves on. London is constantly reinventing itself while remaining a sentinel to the past. Music, fashion, the arts – if it’s cutting edge, it happens here first. Being tired of London is being tired of life, it is said. The rain and drear be damned, the city’s chic quotient never diminishes.

• Long dry and cool - London's fabled night life
• Carry on buying - Shopping anyone?
• Smart arts - Quite a bit of culture, what?
• Out and about - Things to do around London