Now that the holidays are over, it is impossible not to feel somewhat annoyed at all the Christmas advertisements. Images of Kate Moss telling us to "Get the London Look" and Marks and Spencer's gastro-pornographic half-priced wild Alaskan salmon, plastered in festive sparkle.

However, business and practicality aside, it is not impossible to appreciate the city. For in those recently overshadowed, understated pockets of London life, we may really find pleasure and confidence in the fact that we still do live in a wonderfully eclectic, diverse, and in many cases, credit-free London.

I write this for two reasons. The first being that I have just returned from a short trip to a country so devastatingly poor it seems almost otherworldly. And the second because I  was a little concerned as to how I could possibly afford to entertain myself on a Saturday night (seeing as Leona Lewis the Second won and finished off two months of X-Factor goodness). But then, after spending the night and early morning at a friend’s public art exhibition’s after-party on Old Street, drinking in between burlesque dancers and video installations, dancing with robots and watching bizarre, conceptual performances - and all for absolutely nada - I found myself feeling an old sense of pride and exhilaration. For the reality is, we are all truly lucky to live in the city.

Even getting to and from each crowded office and now-overpriced watering hole punctuates what we really should be celebrating. As dire as the rush hour is, it’s better than a lame donkey and cart. Quite the opposite, it provides us all with shared empathy, and brilliant eye candy. The London bloody Transport can even, on some instances, provide surprising conversation: on my way back from a shopping trip to Spitalfields Market, I sat next to a young man on the crowded, bag-bloated bus who told me his life story. This story included the operations of his seafood trading business in Australia...and how his father was my father’s old University lecturer.

Steering clear of sounding just as annoying as those jingling, sparkling slogans which the government and media are hell bent on thrusting in our faces, I instead suggest we keep on our bohemian hats and Amelie shoes. For whilst this season has been undeniably more financially and emotionally difficult compared to previous years, if we open our minds and eyes to the city’s smaller gems, there should be no difficulty in finding something to celebrate in this New Year.

Here Is The Writer : Ing Chua-Lee

Ing was born and bred in London, and is absolutely in love with the city. She lived in Singapore as an expat for two years, interned in the City, then graduated from the University of York where she studied English Literature and History of Art. Excited by anything beautiful, hilarious and expensive, she is now enjoying being back and spending her time and money swanning around like nothing's changed.

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