London Calling

Friday, late afternoon. I race home from work to pack a few things and continue straight to the airport. One hour later, I sit back in the airplane and open the Ryanair On Board magazine in my lap - my weekend trip to the Island has officially begun!

Upon arrival I am thrilled at how British everything looks: the houses, one squeezed next to the other with front gardens as big as a towel, the lamps, the shops, even the pedestrian balustrades! I'm excited at being back in this place that is so wonderfully different, so enchantingly British. Every time I come here I get consumed by a weird euphoria that seems to cloud this place and enwrap every innocent visitor with the patriotism that makes me want to buy mugs with the Queen's face on it and overprized aprons with the Union Jack printed on them.

After going out Saturday night with Mikey, our travelling buddy from Spain and his mates, I woke up just to be looked down at reproachfully by the Queen herself. The previous night I had put some of my money on the bedside table and in effect I woke up next to Her Majesty. What a One-Night-Stand!

Party Quueeeen

Saturday we spent the day eating Ben's cookies in Covent Gardens (white chocolate and macadamia! Yum!), getting lost on the buses and going past once more Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, lying in the sun in Hyde Park and watching the Naked Bike Ride.

Laurie :)

I swear, if we'd have had bikes we would have joined.
But we didn't.
What a shame.




BBQ, Partying in some electro pub/club, eating Indian food (THE thing to do in East London), walking around in Brick Lane (better than camden markets, I swear), Thriftshopping, sipping coffee surrounded by socialist London Hipsters make you feel a million miles away from your everyday life.

London Street Art

So, um, what's this that makes me feel so different here, I wondered. What's the British psyche that feels strongly non-european, pro-royal, tea/drinking, English Gentleman versus German people? Where's the great differences, what do they think about 'us'? I made a few enquiries. Here's the results:

-  "You Germans recycle everything. I don't. If I did the same thing to my rubbish in Germany, I'd probably get arrested" (Mikey)

- "British people have a real bad reputation in other countries. But that's just because flights from London are cheap and alcohol is so much cheaper in Latvia, Bulgaria, Germany, ... so we just get drunk there" (Mikey's brother)


- "British guys will never let a girl walk alone at night. That's something we're real gentlemen at" (Mikey, too)

- "British people will go out of their way only to save you from any kind of discomforts. They would never do or say anything impolite and you have to guess a lot" (Me)
(Comment of the author: which is annoying, too, cuz u don't want to walk around guessing everyone's true feelings all the time. Why not just say it? When it comes to that I'm a real German, I realized)

- "The only people that are considered more polite than the British are the Japanese" (Mikey's buddy)

- "Germans? Way more straightforward. Which I found unsettling at first, but then I came to like this reliability. Plus, Germans are always on time, which I like, too" (another one of Mikey's mates who lived in the black forest for 4 yrs)
(comment of the author: Thanks)

If anyone has to add anything, I'm open for additions :)
But for now, I'll go and have some Breakfast Tea and crumpets. Then I'll go brush my teeth with baking soda toothpaste and be happy about my little weekend getaway :) Until then, c u l8 allig8 and hold yours ears stiff! Hihi :)