London is almost like a nation, divided by which side of the Thames one lives, opines longtime resident and BBC hostess, Nikki Bedi, whose walks along the landmark river give her moments of meditation, a slice of nostalgia and a sense of the seasons

I have to power walk. Not like some hamster or gerbil on a treadmill in a gym though. I have to be outside. I need to experience nature and water. When I am in Mumbai my walk is either from Malabar Hill to the Oberoi Hotel, along Marine Drive, with the sea urging me along, or it’s the sand and dust of Juhu Beach that challenges my journey. In London it’s the River Thames.

The first time I saw the Thames, I had no appreciation for it. We had set out to achieve the impossible. Like so many provincial families we were making a day trip to London to see as many sights as possible. Travelling by train, en famille, from Hampshire to the capital, was in itself a huge adventure for a seven-year-old and her siblings. My first view of London as we crossed the Thames, was of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Everything seemed so large and so old. I remember looking right and left through the black cab windows, as I banged the jump seat up and down in excitement, seeing magnificent bridges on either side. I was fascinated by why there were so many of them and by their sheer enormity.

From Westminster, we hit Trafalgar Square along with a million other tourists and I couldn’t have cared less who was ontop of the column. I just wanted to feed the pigeons. This, of course, was before we had Mayor Ken Livingstone whose first notable success was to rid Trafalgar Square of its peck and pooh population.

My last cultural tour of ‘visitors’ London was with my god-daughters. We took one of the open-topped buses all over the city. I cannot recommend these excursions enough. I learnt so much. However, my two wards were cranky by the time we reached Chinatown for lunch and just wanted to spend their pocket money on tacky plastic snow scenes!