The best live jazz band I ever heard was at a packed out night in Brilliant Corners. I was happy to be squashed.

This is the most genuine and unpretentious pub I have visited in London. The Palm Tree is on the east London canal outside of Victoria Park. You won't find it unless you know it's there. (And now you know!)

Being down on the underground can be quite stressful and draining, but if you have the chance to look up and into the details that has gone into the tiling of the platforms and stations you might start to see some beauty down there. A lot of stations has bespoke tiles and decorations, almost a century old. Bethnal Green station is one of a handful in London to have been given a very specific additional decoration to the classic cream tiles and name strip. Easy to miss, but dotted around the station are a series of tiles with raised motifs on them, representing aspects of London and places that the Underground visited. Or for typographers: check the type on Hampstead station or Holloway Road for some inspiration.

Aside from the excellent cultural facility's the Barbican Centre has to offer, ranging from theatre, art, music and dance. The space outside the Centre holds personal value in its ability to evoke nostalgia of the Emerald City, in the slightly disturbing film 'Return to Oz'. I enjoy residing by the fountains, where I draw, read books and feed ducks.

Spring always arrives earlier to London, and London shows its most beautiful face during the spring. If you live in London, or if you come to visit, bring your training shoes and take a morning run along river Thames in Chiswick. Between Barnes Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge, there's a great trail on both sides of the river. And if you take the run in March, you might run through this wonderful Alice-in-Wonderland cherry-blossom landscape.