Try arguing against this assertion because I don't think anyone can: London has morphed into an enormous multi-dimensional, real time video game. To play, it means all five senses -the sixth if you're that lucky - are needed in full working order. Most days seem to demand that. Not much goes smoothly.

There only ever seems to be a few moments to dust yourself down after the last ordeal, or act of extreme endurance has played itself out; just enough time to snatch a few breathes before the walls shift again, the floor falls away, and you're back in the arena, head-first into a new torment.

It's a full-on place: noise, chaos, confusion, disturbance. London can sometimes work with you; often it's simply neutral, even Olympian, content to merely watch the struggle; and occasionally it can be vexing, sulky, even spiteful, and when this mood is on, this face of the city set, then it's a battle.

Trains, tubes, buses inevitably conspire to break down or turn up late; the weather, well that speaks for itself right now, stir in the random acts of inconvenience a city of, perhaps, ten million will always generate, then there's a mess straightaway. And this does n't even factor in events like last Thursday.

Who needs wilderness survival training; when you can have a few days in this palpitating, stress machine.