“You know what the trouble with London is?,” a fellow Aussie expat once said to me. “Wherever you go, everyone else is always there too.”

I wish she’d never said that. Suddenly, I couldn’t but notice. Every time you hear about a good restaurant, it’s booked out. Every time someone tips you off about a nice bar, there’s a queue outside. Every time there’s a good play or gig, the only seats left are behind a pillar. Every time the sun comes out, the parks are full to bursting.