in

Yes, I love London in the Springtime. And here’s why’

London is one of the greenest cities in the world and when it blossoms it’s brimming with beauty

When the sun comes out, there aren’t many better cities in the world than London. When we’ve overcome the tedious, dreary, never-ending winter, where it just rains, all the time (at least snow – snow looks pretty), when the clocks go forward and the Spring time begins the capital comes to life. London is one of the greenest cities in the world (it’s the eighth, if you care at all) and when it blossoms it’s brimming with beauty. There’s an ineffable sense of possibility about the Spring. Anything can happen from here on – and it’s a notion that intrinsic for it’s when college always finishes.

“You know what kid? London is one of the greenest cities in the world”. Johnny Depp in Kensington Gardens.

That moment when you put down your pen as a wide-eyed teenager, and know that for the following three months, you’re going to experience some of your most precious ever memories. We’ll fall in love, we’ll meet new friends, go to music festivals, watch the World Cup in crowded bars. And it’s this enchanting, elusive feeling that enriches so many wonderful cinematic endeavours. The French explore such emotions wonderfully in Eric Rohmer’s A Tale of Springtime, where love, much like hayfever, is most definitely in the air.

“Would you like to go to London with me?”. A Tale of Springtime by Eric Rohmer.

The impossibly green landscape that belongs to parks tends to make such great settings for Spring time films, used so well in the tale of The Secret Garden, which thrives in that sense of fantasy, emblematic of the season, the idea of going into a secret paradise where anything is possible, much like the pending Summer. The essence of youth shines through in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The coming-of-age genre goes hand in hand with the Springtime, for it’s during these months that the younger generations seem to to do just that.

“A secret paradise where anything is possible.” The Secret Garden.

Then there’s Spring Breakers, slightly different, but it’s about as fitting for this article as we could wish for. Clue is in the title. But it’s generally romance that works best for this season, films like Emma and 10 Things I Hate About Youwhile it’s not just love between lovers that works well, but love between friends. I Love You, Man is one such film.

“Uh, I can’t remember my iCloud username.” Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma.

So while it may seem somewhat counter-productive to spend much time in the cinema when there is a plethora of parks just awaiting our visit, yet Spring marks such a wondrous backdrop for so many a film to flourish. It’s the best season, for when Spring arrives we’ve got it all to come – it’s the start of something wonderful, and to quote Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music, the beginning is a very good place to start.

“Silver-white winters that melt into springs/These are a few of my favorite things.” Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music
  • London Town: Walk Like a Panther and the British Pub Culture
  • London Town: Dunkirk and Darkest Hour portrayed our famous British resilience. Until it snows
  • London Town: From Phantom Thread to Made in Chelsea: How the British Upper Class has Changed

Leave a Comment

Graham Reynolds: “Music is such a hard thing to talk about…”

Tele Visions: Queer Eye – More than just makeovers