part of the neighborhood?

Friday the 24th of June.

It must be official.
We're truly becoming a piece of the neighborhood.

Today I took my 7 year old to the coffee shop on the high street (the main street) and we actually ran into two different groups of people we know. 

In the afternoon, I helped track down my neighbor's dog who bolted away like lightning when the rental agent came to show their townhouse.

Later I went and cheered for my daughter's Sports Day at her British School, at the local track at Regents Park down the road.

Meanwhile, my 12 year old son wandered his way through the London city streets, making his way home on his own from his basketball camp at the school he'll attend this fall.

WOW - could it be?  could it actually be true, are we indeed finding our place in the fabrics of London's neighborhood life?   are we becoming part of this place, this massive metropolis of a city, yet here in our little obscure corner, we're making real connections to local living?  achieving a sort of comfort level, a kind of familiarity which allows community to envelop your sense of belonging?

At what point will we become Londoners?  will we want to?  does it require relinquishment of other identities?  or does it just smoothly spread and weave into our being?