It’s great to be surrounded by so much culture and political incorrectness

SEVENTY-TWO hours in London and I can confirm that the snow has gone, you can eat sushi at Canary Wharf for less than I have ever eaten it in Nicosia, it is possible to drink cappuccino on the Southbank for £2.25 and people really do talk to each other! Not sure why people who don’t live in London always seem to think that it is such an expensive, anti-social city.
My daughter had a very nice chat with a man working at Bank tube station the other day. She was supposed to meet a friend at Embankment and thought, for some bizarre reason, (despite spending most of her life in London), that Bank must be some sort of an abbreviation for Embankment. What is wrong with young people these days? They think everything is written in text language, or it is a code for something else. Naturally, I told her she needed to get out and use public transport a bit more or at least, learn to ask for directions before starting the journey.
She had no trouble communicating clearly on Saturday night though, when she made some new gym buddies in our block of flats. While I was asleep, after a very pleasant evening with a friend at the BFI, she was attending a party in a flat seven floors above me, which I was completely unaware of. I had been to see a French movie and a discussion about it with John Hurt, which was all terribly civilised. But I have to admit, I didn’t really talk to anyone other than my friend. My daughter on the other hand, managed to wangle an invite to a drug and alcohol infested party, while chatting to some old people (over 25s) in the lift at 2am. So I can only conclude that the art of conversation with the neighbours is not dead in London after all……
As for the idea that London is expensive, I am not sure why people think that. I have eaten in restaurants three times over the last few days and paid no more than £15 per head. Last night I had an Indian take-away with friends and we paid £18 for three people; not much more than I pay for one pizza delivery for my son in Cyprus! And shopping is a very worthwhile pastime in London at this time of year. The sales are coming to an end and everything is incredibly cheap. My daughter got two dresses from French Connection for £25 each. The only problem, as her friend said, is that when you wait until this point in the sales they often only have ‘fat’ people’s sizes left. In other words, size 10 or above. It is great to be surrounded by so much culture and political incorrectness…..