Emm in London
A blog by Mandy Southgate
London. Architecture. Travel. Culture. History.
A photo narrative of life in London and beyond
Hi, I’m Mandy Southgate and this is Emm in London. The 'Emm' in my blog name refers to the letter M in my name.
After several failed attempts at writing an interesting About Me page, I have come to the realisation that I don’t like About Me pages. What if I write something here and then decide I don’t like it anymore in a couple of weeks time? I’m far too flighty to cast myself in stone like this!
There is also the slightly strange fact that I can’t figure out if I’m English or South African and I run a blog with “London” in the title when I technically neither work nor live in London anymore. I did, for 8 years, but then the green pastures of Kent beckoned to me and I began living the suburban dream outside of the City.
Confused yet? Welcome to my world.
The facts then...
I’m a serial expat with dual South African and British nationality and lived in South Africa, England, Nigeria and South Africa again before finally returning to England in July 2007. I have always considered myself to be English because my first memories were of a tiny little house in Haydock near Liverpool but if you meet me, you'll definitely think I'm South African.
By the way, South Africa is awesome and Johannesburg even more so but I spent 25 years there pretty much oblivious to that fact. It was not until 2006 that I really began to open my eyes to everything there was to do and see in Johannesburg outside of the dingy nightclubs and lazing beside my swimming pool.
Emm in London is basically just me making up for being an idiot for so long and desperately making an effort to appreciate the world around me. And I do appreciate it. I love London and Kent, am mad for and absolutely adore the Balkans.
Never again will I let the world pass me by. I believe that we don’t need to wait until we can travel to explore and experience the enrichment that travel brings. We should experience everything that our hometown has to offer.
Where do I explore?
I’d say my niche is “off the beaten track”. I love street art, dereliction and ruins. I focus on architecture, culture and history. I love Bosnia (with a passion), Serbia and the Balkans. Oh, did I mention that already? I say it a lot apparently.
I like traipsing around the English countryside and have explored Scotland, Wales and Ireland too.
Me Around the Web
When I’m not blogging here at Emm in London, I chronicle my travels at Instagram, on Twitter and Facebook.
I have strong interests in sociology and politics as well as loving all things related to media. These interests are reflected in my two other blogs.
Addicted to Media is about media, music, films, books and television.
A Passion to Understand is about my passion in understanding the world and the terrible things that happen in the names of politics, religion and ethnicity.
