That's the building we live in, on the 5th floor (the 6th for you Americans). Most of the building is an office building but for our top floor and below, in Sicilian Avenue (funny name) are some small shops -- a Lebanese restaurant, a few tailors, a florist, etc etc.
Our neighborhood is right smack in the middle of Holborn, in Camden Borough. We're one block away from the Holborn Underground station and two blocks from the British Museum (as I write this I can see its flag) and right next to Bloomsbury Square. And across the street, interestingly enough, is the famous Central St. Martin's School of Art and Design.
It's interesting how my perception of this area has changed over time. When I first got here, I didn't notice much racial diversity, or rather, much integration. Our neighborhood, it seems, is inhabited mostly by daily office-workers, predominantly white. The next larger ethnic group I can see are Asians (and I mean East Asians, as in Britiain, East Asians are "Orientals" and South Asians are "Asian).
What I first thought when I got here was that it seemed like East Asian people were associating only with East Asian people. It also seemed like almost all the people in our neighborhood were in their early-to-late 20s, some in their early 30s.
As I've been here longer I've noticed more and more, though, that there is more ethnic mixing. While white people seem to still be with other white people predominantly, there are certainly quite a number of East Asian people hanging out with white people. And, just like in the states, when you see a mixed-race couple, it's usually a white male with an East Asian female.
It might just be that we live across the street from Central St. Martin's that there is such a young crowd, and that we live in an area with more office space than residential space that produces a big lack of diversity in age and ethnicity. Still, it's nice to get away to other parts of the city where there are real families! Happy here, though.
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