A little bit of what I like a lot in London

Posted on December 17 2013 by Cindy Marchetti

There are moments here that you can’t live elsewhere. Certain things, certain experiences specific of London and that are the result of the city itself and of the people who live here.

And here is the list of my “little things” that have made me smile a lot here…

- To hear an English person (not only but mainly them) saying that she is going to have “Beans on toast”, so literally red beans on the top of a toast. Once, someone even told me “Spaghetti on toast”. No but really? Haha all the French Chefs would die just hearing it!!

- The absolute delicious, subtle and polite English sarcasm…

- The people dress up in Leicester Square. For a hen party, New Year, Halloween, a birthday or just for fun. That a real show to watch every weekend of the year without exception.

- See foxes in the middle of the night in the middle of the city.

- The magic of the doors… There are thousands of doors in London, some superb, some unexceptional. But behind all of them, be ready to meet the unexpected. Recently, I went inside a buildingthrough a small wood door that I would have missed if I was not looking for it and I ended up into the best jazz bar of London with unique cocktails and a scenery that made me feel like if we were back 100 years ago. Another time, I went inside a church to discover a room full of Brazilian dancers and live music, absolutely incredible. Here the places always surprise you, the décor, the atmosphere, the magic.

- It’s always hearing “Thanks”, “Sorry” and “God bless you”.

- It’s 3 people who start singing in the tube and the whole carriage who follow and sing too. The magic of that moment.

- You can pay £0.50 by card. Fabulous.

- It is people looking “different” (tattoo, piercings, crazy hair cut) doing “normal” jobs. Here we look at what you do, not how you look like. And even better, here we are open and TOLERANT and everybody look like whatever he wants!

- English girls wearing their summer shoes the whole year without tights. Even when it is -5.

- The English girls who keep wearing their summer shoes but with a tight…

- The “Good Deed” page in the Metro newspapers where people write to say thank you to some stranger who had helped them, to a driver who had made them laugh, to a nurse…

- It’s being able to eat Chinese, a kebab, a steak at 4am any day of the week.

- It’s living a night totally Brazilian that make you feel that you are in Brazil.

- It’s feeling the English patriotism through Kate and William wedding, their baby, the Queen’s birthday. It’s feeling their proudness and feeling a bit envious.

- London, the city that never sleeps…

- It’s 2 beautiful and elegant woman wearing gorgeous dresses and huge feather hats who are eating a burger king outside the tube.

- It’s seeing the police (with no gun in London) sitting on the floor close to a homeless person and starting chatting with her.

- And it is witnessing people dropping a hot beverage or something to eat close to the same homeless people.

- It’s people singing so loudly while cycling.

- It’s closing your eyes in Picadilly and not knowing where you are anymore… Around you people speak Spanish, Chinese, Swedish, Italian and god knows what else… It’s a crazy melting pot.

- Throwing your hand in the air to catch a cab at anytime.

- Catching a bus at anytime.

- It’s people who respect each other, who queue to board the bus or the tube. It’s everybody giving up his seat to an elderly person and the driver who wait for her to sit down to start driving.

- It is the madness of Nothing Hill Carnival.

- It’s an easy and short payslip with only 3 lines. And taxes being paid straight at the beginning.

- It’s keeping an umbrella in your bag in winter time. In Autumn. Spring and summer too… And flat shoes as well. Well it’s a suitcase not a handbag…

- It’s always discovering like it is the very first day.

- Singing super loud “Wonderwall” for the 1^st time surrounded by English people (and being a bit tipsy). Not only you finally understand what you are saying, it is like THE little detail that make you feel like you sort of have a double nationality now….