Streets of London

After a ‘long’ week at chapel, I arranged to have a week away. I caught the bus to Skipton and from there a train to Middlesex. Having arrived at my guesthouse and unpacked my belongings, I walked from Islington to Stoke Newington, and then to Finsbury Park, and then to Holloway and Highbury. My feet were sore by the time I was done and I was reminded of the old folk song Streets of London. Written by Ralph McTell for his 1969 album Spiral Staircase, it recounts the sorry characters one might meet on the capital’s highways and byways:

Have you seen the old man

In the closed down market,

Kicking up the papers

With his worn out shoes?

In his eyes, you see no pride

Hand held loosely at his side,

Yesterday's paper

Telling yesterday's news.

The singer then asks:

So, how can you tell me you're lonely

And say for you that the sun don't shine?

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind

London 2024, or at least those parts of North London through which I strolled last night, were not obviously impoverished. At times, I was the only person in earshot who thought and spoke in English; the only male without a tattoo; the only one not yelling into a phone, using a skateboard or smoking some substance or other. No, many of the folk I passed were born abroad, or their parents were, and they seem to have done nicely from the move. Gold rings, the latest fashions and other tokens of wealth were flaunted and advertised.

But they have not Jesus Christ.

The Lord tells Jonah in chapter 4 and verse 11:

“And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

There are nine millions here, and few of them are any wiser or godlier than the ancient Assyrian. So if you know Jesus Christ and live in leafy Lancashire or Yorkshire, remember how blessed you are.

Let me take you by the hand

And lead you through the streets of London

Show you something to make you change your mind.