Notes of A New Londoner Part I

I feel like a student again. Everything's so expensive here, I have to watch what I eat, drink and buy in case I overspend. I guess I should stop converting everything back into SGD cos that's only going to give me a heart attack soon. I probably will end up eating Pret sandwiches a lot, or take-out M&S food, gotta start rationing my Starbucks coffee as well, gone are the days of S$1 kopi. The plan is to cook for dinner and bring in the leftover for lunch and have 2 nice meals during the weekend. Let's see how I do on that. Although it's just sad that I have to watch my expenditure so closely.

Not just that, but I am really starting to miss the convenience and luxuries of having a car to zip around anywhere anytime. Here, I'm subject to the ubiquitous oft-broken down Tube, bus or walking everywhere (I've already worn out my cheapo Far East shoes) cos I can't afford to be cabbing everywhere. Hais...

Speaking of shoes, EVERYONE in London seems to be wearing flats. Not that that's a bad thing, but I had thought more people would be wearing heels, judging by the amount of heels H&M, Topshop are selling. But no, everyone's feet are clad in flats. Some even wear trainers or slippers with their work clothes (I suspect there's a pair of heels hidden in their bags) and that attests to how much of a walking culture there is here. Not just a walking culture, but a practical culture since pain-free feet take precedence over style. Either that, or I'm totally hanging out in plebian cum tourist land where the chi-chi fashion forward Londoners don't hang out. Probably the heel-cladden fashionistas are zipping everywhere in black cabs or their shiny beemers.

I really should find out where the real Londoners hang out. So WHO are the real Londoners? The old money and aristocratic? The surburban working middle-class? The stylish fashion set? White-collared I-bankers? (who have most probably been retrenched and disappeared these days) Or is it the cosmopolitan melting pot of immigrants and transient working people (like me) that I come across everyday in Central London? Seriously, when I take the Tube, not one person is speaking English (American doesn't count). A smattering of various tongues can be heard and I thought I came here to be surrounded by the Queen's English.

I guess this is the real London - a city where paths are crossed and different people of the world come together to call this place home. Just like me. Now I just need to find out where Hugh Grant hangs out.