my remarkable neighboors

Last weeks have served to enjoy London again after the stress to get in the School. Some theatre evenings, several dinners and drinks hosted by friends from the office in most of the times, my cousins coming from Madrid to visit me, an excursion to Oxford, Christmas shopping, and tomorrow the Christmas dinner with my team that I'm not looking forward at all above all last decision from my manager of not supporting my MBA, but anyway, not everything can turn out well.

2009 is coming with a lot of new projects and changes, even it might be possible I'll move to another area and for sure I'll miss a lot of things from my neighborhood such as for example my neighboors. I'm not talking about the ones who live behind the doors that I see in the corridor every time I come out from my house, that I don't ever see which is a mistery, but about other much more remarkable ones. One is the ex prime minister, Mr Tony Blair! it was a surprise some weeks ago when I realized why I found every day two couple of police men almost in front of my house. My good friend Ris who is teaching me a lot of things about London told me, didn't you know? I can say now that my area must be quite safe.

The other (or others) is Mr.... ?? he or she doesn't have a known name because turns up and dissapears without saying anything. But the thing is that I've seen how true is that London is full of foxes. I've seen them several times in front of the window of my bedroom as it heads a lovely park which is normally completely empty. What was more superb was the fact that I run into one of these animals two weeks ago coming back from Soho at 1 in ther morning. Can you imagine walking down a street from Hyde Park to my house and seeing a fox running almost in the middle in the street? It was fantastic! every night, when I go to bed I come into my bedroom without turning on the light and look at the window with the hope of seeing the fox looking for food, scene that I've seen repeated several times during the last month, but since I brought my digital camera to the window, he is not showing up! I guess he or she doesn't want to become famous... but they have the same look as the one I've uploaded, just to give you an idea

Watching English (I)

Last year I bought the book: Watching English but I've been so busy that I've not had time to read it. I promise to do it this Christmas (at least during the idle time in the airport and during the flights). This book deals with the "non written" English rules or English behaviour.

I'm going to start to list things that have called my attention by comparing them to Spanish people, positive (most of them) and negative ones (that exist as well), ranging from very "silly things to most profound ones:

- They (English people) don't clean their teeths after lunch - First days in the office I was embarrasing to go to the bathroom to clean my teeths because nobody else used to do it! Now I think my colleagues have assumed that I'm a little strange and they don't look at me surprised anymore. I think it comes down to the fact that lunch is so quick that they don't even have time for that. In Spain, we used to have up two hours for lunch time ...

- They don't socialize at working hours: No coffees ... almost they even don't say good morning! I've seen people going to M&S at lunch time alone to grab something to have it while they read the newspaper. To meet someone at lunch time is something exceptional. French and Spanish are the opposite...On the contrary they like to meet colleagues afterwork to have drink which is more seldom in Madrid. For example, if in Madrid you ask the girl that sits down besides your desk to have a beer after work, she might think that you want an affaire with her!! Here is something normal.

- They don't like the direct confrontation and this is reflected on daily routine. For example, they prefer send emails rather than talking on the phone. Some months ago, I exchanged around 10 emails on a topic with an English engineer. To me, that was a waste of time because it would have been much easier to address the issue through a direct conversation but that guy didn't answer my calls on purpose... For the same reason they are very polite when they disagree and use the expression: yes, that's perfect BUT ... which means: "I disagree with you"

- They (this is more profound) don't like to get subsidies. I like this one. I was talking with a guy who told me that in England unemployed people don't like to get any subsidy, in fact they get ashamed by this and they look for a job as soon as possible. Can you imagine this mentality in Spain where there are people that show off simply because they have managed to cheat the government by getting some subsidies?

I believe that the last one starts to show why this small country ruled over a vast Empire...

I'll keep gathering these kind of things (I have a very long list) to see at which extent we are different (Spain is different) or they are different!

Making decisions

After at least four weeks under the weather, finally I've recovered my energy and I've stopped sneezing. I think I got all those colds not because of the freezing winter that we are enduring in London this year but because of the stress I had as I was in the process of making a decision with impact in my next 2 years. If sometimes It takes me ages to decide about what I'm going to buy, can you imagine how much I've been thinking about stuff that can affect my next 2 years? Now, the decision is made and I'll enroll on the EMBA of LBS in January. I hope such effort will be worth it. Everything started 10 years ago when I began to considerer the idea of complementing my technical background with business education, and that's how I am, a person that thinks about important things too much before stepping forward. So after 10 years, I've decided to leap: simply because inside I believed that this was the right moment and the right situation? (as I explained to the interviewers?)

I also thought about living abroad 15 years ago when I was in the University and I've done it with a "small" delay...again it might be because I've waited for the right time.? Or I should think also that I might be the kind of person that doesn't run any risk and as result makes things only when there is nothing to loose. I don't know really but I feel that you have to make important decisions when situations are really clear and matured. To be honest, I'm not unhappy about how things are tuning out so... I'll continue with my "methodology" or perhaps it might be rewarding to spend some time at Christmas in "El Espolon" (if the climate let me do it) why

It takes me so long to make decisions.

Anyway, philosofy apart, the point is that I've signed up to stay in London until July 2010 when I'll be 37 years old, almost 38...it sounds scary. Last Saturday I was celebrating my birthday and the truth is that I'm heading the 40s , the time is running fast, I still remember my years in Valladolid as something relatively closed in time ... it is a relief that still people tell me that I look like much younger. I'll keep drinking red wine :)

On the other hand, I've very proud of what I've done. Although my English is still quite bad, I've overcome all the tough tests of the School. I've demonstrated to myself that if I will, I can, and that thanks to London again, I've got back some dreams that I had hiden long time ago. What would it have happened if I had stayed in Madrid? Probably nothing. That's how life works, one time you make a decision that changes your life or you do nothing and nothing changes for good.

Without no difficulties, this time here keeps being the best time in my life? It might be ... or It will be even better. What is true is that here everything might happen and that's the best thing after all.

Lost in traslation

It is being my most difficult time in my professional career, no doubts about this. At the same time I'm learning faster than ever I think. The highest difficulty in my job is coming from the envirnoment. I have to travel now every week to Paris to meet people that I'm meeting now for the first time that see me as a new competitor coming from London and who is not French.

Last week was very fun. I've met around 20 different people for the last weeks. Regarding a topic, I've attended several meetings where I've met always the same guys, 5 French colleagues. Since the beginning and given the situation I realized that I had to show an agressive attitude to build credibility rapidly or otherwise I was going to be considered someone no relevant. So I thought, ok, let's identify who are in the meeting and let's come across to each one the right message. The thing is that I've heard so many names that I've got confused and moreover when 20% of the meeting my colleagues were speaking in French.... I had identified a colleague as a simple manager, typical "Parisino", very fashion wearing always very smart suits and quite young, and I was challenging his arguments all the time and trying to undermine his propositions treating him like someone at my level just to show "be careful, I might not be able to speak French but I know what I say". And I was treating with a lot of respect another guy, older because I thought he was the Vicepresident. Both had the same name. One guy who looks like a teenager was considered by me like a graduate. But during the last meeting I pointed the supposed manager that I had received his mail and that I appreciated that information. He told me, yes, N is your contact for it. I thought, something is going wrong. The signature of the email said Director so it is strange that the teenager sends me the file...Next day, someone on the phone idenfied with the name and surname of the Vice President, asked me to send some information. I thought, his voice on the phone looks like younger. Everything was more confused when the supposed teenager told me some days after in the last meeting: R, come to my office tomorrow to discuss it. "To his office, I thought...."

Yes, the supposed teenager is a Director, a level higher than mine and has a nice office with coffe machine, 2 PCs, a round table.... The supposed manager is Vice president, two levels higher than me. And the old guy is just a manager like me. Ufh!!! what a disaster, my attitude has not been aligned during the last meetings according to the level of each counterparter! Anyway, I was laughing when I checked all the faces in the directory and realized about everything. Now every time I have to speak with the "teenager" and the "fashion guy" I am being very careful... Tomorrow I'll meet them again... I hope these meetings will turn out well!

Bye, bye 2008 summer

It is being very grey and rainy these days in London like a reflection of the end of the summer that has been great: 15 days travelling around US (Las Vegas, LA, San Francisco, Josua tree, Death Valley, Yosemite...), 4 days enjoying the family and old friends in Roa and the rest going out in London with very good company.

But now a new season starts, with a new job! Fortunatelly I managed to move to a much better department, not bad for my first year, there is a new lovely member of the Spanish community in the office (Welcome to London!), a new challenge is waiting for me as my application for LBS has to be ready in almost 1 month (and I'm not doing it well I'm afraid)... so I hope I'll fulfill all my objectives in the coming months.

For the moment, let's take my mind to the good memories of this summer that has already past with a nice picture from the Grand Canyon...

One year since I moved to London

The 3rd of July of 2007 I landed in London. A lot of hopes mixed with uncertainty, a really very bad English, almost nobody known in my new city, just two colleagues from my office of Madrid but that had their own life here, a new apartment which cost me double price than a nice apartment in “La Castellana” de Madrid” but half size of my flat in Madrid. A new office, new colleagues whom I almost could not understand, a new boss, with a completely different style compared to the style of my previous one. A new way of working with a lot of procedures, with nobody to have lunch or coffee for a break. I still remember the first Friday when I left the office, I went to have two pints after work with some colleagues and after 1 hour everybody started to say, “Sorry I have to go, I have a dinner now” or “see you next Monday, I’m going to meet my friends now”. I thought and, me what am I going to do now? I just came to home where still I didn’t have TV. Next Monday, the same story, let’s connect to a conference call to not understand anything …. What a bad feeling I used to have after those meetings on the phone…..what a feeling was to walk in new streets for me.

But from the beginning I knew that I was doing the right thing. It is always the same, I have a strange ability to know whether I’m following the good path or not and to feel good with myself.

A lot of things have happened during this year. Today I can do my work so easily that my boss started to feel uncomfortable some months ago because I think he feels he is not in charge anymore. Tomorrow I’ve been invited to two parties, to an excursion to visit Brighton, I’ve renewed my contract with my landlord one year and I like much more my apartment in London than my flat in Madrid, the waiters of the pub of the corner recognize me like an usual customer, I stop to talk with my porter every morning before going working, I have a chat with the shopkeeper about football every day when I go to buy bread, "Torres is going to score on Sunday and Spain will come through, he told me this afternoon" on the 2nd floor of my office I know everybody, in fact I have to skip everyday people to have lunch and I have to refuse two emails everyday of people inviting me to have a coffee because I’m busy, this Sunday I’m going to meet a group of around 10 people to watch the quarter final between Spain and Italy together and the most important thing, although unfortunately I’ve struggled so far to meet English people, I can get by with my English. I can go to anyone in the office or in the street without the fear of not being able to understand them. I can walk down streets that I already know which makes me feel comfortable. I have new friends. But, very important: I can meet my Spanish friends from time to time or at least I’m in touch with anyone. The authentic friends are not lost because the distance. And of course I've met some of them in London several times, great. Just I only miss to have the opportunities to go my little hometown more often, once every two months is not enough to visit my family and to stroll along “El espolon”, I hope a new plan that I’ve started in May will bring me good results in the short term to have business travels to Madrid frequently, that would be really nice, I hope….

I’m the most fortunate person in the world (just because I have health, a strong reason to me to state this) and for sure I’m going to keep making the most of my time. Time flies and I don’t want to wake up one day and to ask myself “if I would be 20 years old again, I would do this”. I’m sorry but you were 20 and you didn’t, you had your time and there are no excuses. So if you think about doing something not to break with your life but to improve it, like moving abroad, seize your opportunity, it will be great (I might be thinking of someone).

The sleeping beauty

The visit to the Royal Opera House has been my most glamourous activity so far. We went to see the ballet “The sleeping beauty” by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

It is the third theatre on the Covent Garden site and it started its activity in December 1732. Handel gave regular seasons here from 1735 until his death in 1759. A big fire destroyed the theatre in 1808. It was rebuilt very quickly but in 1856 the Theatre was completelly destroyed again. It was opened on 15 May 1858 with a performance of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. The theatre became the Royal Opera House in 1892 as the number of French and German works in the repertory increased.

The new building that we can see today was finally realized in December 1999 when the new architectural team of Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones with BDP (Dixon.Jones.BDP) revealed the £178m Royal Opera House to the public.

The main anphitheatre is noble, evocative, elegant, sumptuos, stanning… Just to see the atmosphere is worth but in this case we enjoyed a lot the performance, with music from Pyotr ll’yich Tchaikovsky.

During the breaks, don’t miss the icecreams that are sold direclty in the corridors, they tasted really nice.

The black Prince

In the end, after several weeks planning to escape from London to the countryside, we did it. We swept to do a nice excursion, leaving the city. The destination: Canterbury. This resulted in a proper long Spanish lunch, in Whitstable a nice harbour, rather than a trip but we had still room for a special cultural visit. By the way, lunch was terrific; the seafood was comparable to the one from Galicia.

It was 5.30 in the afternoon and obviously the Cathedral was closed. But by trying every door that we found we could go into through a little one. We had the feeling that we were breaking some rules when we run into a priest who was entering some seconds after us.

‘We are sorry, we saw the door opened and we thought …”
“We are out of time, but don’t worry I can show you the black Prince’s chantry and even you can take a look at the Crypta”

That’s very kind of you!

‘Now, let me tell you a story - It seemed that in this time of the year, before the summer, there are no many visitors and the priest was no very busy -In the mid-sixteenth century, many French-speaking Protestant Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemings came to England to escape the turmoil of warfare and religious persecution by the Catholic Inquisition. – I thought, we were not very open minded in Spain at that time! - . From 1661, persecution of protestants, became general and systematic and a huge numbers of French Protestants, known as Huguenots, fled to England. Some of them were settled down here in Canterbury and they were hosted in the crypt of the Cathedral. Some years later they were moved to this Chapel”

- Why is called the “black Price’s chantry”? we asked.

Well, in the 14 century, it was given its marvellous vault on the instruction of EDWARD the Black Prince to thank God the Pope’s absolution for his marriage with his cousin Joan, "The Fair Maid of Kent” despite her chequered marital history and the fact that she was a blood-relative. She was known at that time as "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving." (you can see her in the picture, guess!).

Edward was an exceptional military leader and popular who died one year before his father and therefore never was ruled as king. He participated actively in the Spanish policy by supporting one party in the civil war in Castilla in favour of “Pedro el Cruel”

We come from those victims from Catholic persecution and we still keep meeting here to pray every Sunday. You are invited to stay for the next service”.

- Thanks a lot, but we are going to take a look at the crypt and we will come back to home. I thought that it wouldn't be a waste of time either to meet the descendents from those French people, what curious history.

This casual guide, propolled us to try other doors and again we succeed with another one. It led us to inside. The awesone interior left us without a word to say. It was empty and we couldn’t move freely as it was clearly forbidden by a sign in the entrance but at least we could catched an idea of the magnificient atmosphere that intended to reflect the heaven in the earth.

Snowing in April

It has been a very busy week at work, with my manager still on vacations. Hopefully he comes back tomorrow to the routine, welcome!

My only going out before the weekend was to watch the match “Arsenal-Liverpool” in a Pub very close to Lonsdale. No so many differences compared to the atmosphere that you can view in a Spanish bar. I liked so much every time the presenter shouted “Torres, Torres” with a fun English accent. After enduring my bad English accent for these months I have fun when I see the other side and hear English people pronouncing Spanish words. Afterwards we went for dinner in the same place. Upstairs there is a Thai food restaurant more than ok which name is “Walmer castle”.

But the main event of the week was planned for today. We had planned our first excursion out of London but weather forecast announced sleets during Sunday and they were right. You can see the picture taken at 10 this morning from my bedroom, what a disaster.

I had organized my time thinking of the excursion and that’s why I went out for dinner on Friday instead of Saturday. This time the chosen place was “Ping Pong”, in Notting Hill as usual, to have dim sum food. To be honest taking into account my experience so far, I’ve decided not to go to trendy places anymore; just well known restaurants because of its food, pubs and restaurants specialized in Asian food. This was ok. When I was having dinner I could realize the strange combination of people that had joined that plan: A Peruvian woman in her early thirties, a Peruvian colleague who is 27 a Dutch colleague and I in our mid-thirties, a group of 7 Dutch friends in their mid-twenties! When you are abroad, given that your social network is smaller than in your home country, you are willing to socialize with people that in principle don’t have so many things in common as your usual friends. But in the end the differences emerged and after the dinner we split into several groups and I end having some beers at Harlem, a pub in the same area, rather pretending dancing than doing it with only two friends out of the original group with more common interests I guess. We had a great time; we met people from different nationalities that reflect how international London is and how people from around all of Europe choose this place as a destination to live or just to spend a good time. For instance we met a group of Danish people that had came to London just to celebrate that they had been over budget in their company and their manager had paid it for them.

Yesterday I stayed at home as planned, and today after such surprise with the snow dropping intensely early in the morning, I decided to do the same again and stay at home. Soon I’ll be swamped with some visitors and I’ll have to take them to the most tourist places. And to be honest a lazy weekend from time to time is well appreciated. I’ve been reading the newspaper and watching TV although here although I haven’t found my favourite media company (the one that should equate El Mundo). On the other hand, even if you are very choosy, it is easy to find rewarded documentaries on TV. Today I was watching one about Stephen Hawking and other about Seton, the first ecologist in USA, both very interesting. A quiet week in the end, but next weekend no matter how the weather will be, I will dispose of it to be in the countryside, I can ensure it.

Mayfair

Yesterday I was strolling around Mayfair. I needed fresh air in a very lazy Sunday. It was due to a very lively Saturday when I attended two Birthday parties until very late ... too much for my age!.

Mayfair emerged in the eighteenth century as one of London’s first real residential suburbs. Soon it started to attract aristocratic London and set the westward trend for middle-class migration and you can see now the touch of luxury and elegancy in every corner. The borders remain among the prime shopping streets (Piccadilly, Regent Street, Bond Street). Too many things to see during one afternoon so I decided just to address the less popular streets, and I walked down from house along Park Lane until Picadilly street, but once I headed this street, after two intersections I turn on the left to get to “Shepherd Market”. A little warren of alleyways and passages now occupied by swanky shops and restaurants, plus a couple of Victorian pubs that I presume are extremely popular during the summer. Even yesterday there were plenty of people at their surrounds having beer and it reminded me somehow the atmosphere of people having the aperitif in the Barrio de Salamanca. It was too formal to be close to “La Latina”. Anyway this area is very charming and I recommend going there and I’m sure I’ll come back but next time with company to have a good Belgian beer. I’ve read that Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis spent a cool 17,000 pounds on a meal. Unfortunately my budget is not so high for a dinner but still I think I’ll be able to manage a good company.

Afterwards I headed Old Bond Street and after passing by the most expensive and well presented shops I’ve ever been so far in London, being home to all the leading multinational designer clothes outlets like Prada, Versace, Donna Karan, Chanel and so on I got the Royal Arcade an example of the traditional and elegant English shopping mall. Close by, are the auction house “Sotheby’s”, 34-35 Old New Bond St, where I stopped to admire the oldest outdoor sculpture in London (it dates from 1600 BC) and nearby a popular double statue of Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt. American bonds continue in Grosvenor Square where I went afterwards and where you can find the ugly US Embassy and a big statue stands in memorial again of Roosevelt. From there, I reached Oxford Street that led me again to my apartment at Kendal Street. I found out why that name, Oxford Street was the old Roman road that linked Londonium with Oxford.

In the end it was a nice walk, a little step to keep knowing this great City of London.

The Spanish connection

I’ve been enjoying a long Easter vacations: 6 days travelling around the south of Spain, and 4 days in my hometown… So let me tell you about my last interesting day in London: visiting Marylebone.

The outlying village of St Mary-by-the-Bourne was swallowed up in the eighteen century to become a mesh of Georgian streets and houses much of which survives today.

I usually visit this neighbourhood twice a week when I go to the Gym, it is just the one besides Paddington in the east, and I was curious to know what I could find there.

Last Sunday before Easter I decided to walk around it and it was worth it. I started at “the Wallace Collection” that is a national museum in an historic London town house. There are 25 galleries with French 18th century painting, furniture and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings and a world class armoury. In the middle there is the typical dinning room to have the English tea, really nice. I stopped to see “woman with a fan by Velazquez” in the great gallery, the largest room in the house. It was interesting to read about the identity of the woman, who was decided to be French rather than Spanish by experts, due to her neckline. Spanish women haven been always more traditional! The “treasure of the month” was a Bohemian Welcoming Glass dated 1609. ‘Lift me up, drink me up, set me down, fill me again and bring me a good brother again’ was written on its surface. It seems that the tradition of making toast is not new.

But the most special interesting moment in the afternoon was my visit to St Jame’s Church, the “Spanish place”. A Catholic chapel was built in 1791 thanks to the efforts of the chaplain at the Spanish embassy and It become a neo-Gothic church designed in a mixture of English and French Gothic. Inside you can see the Spanish Royal features and thre are even two seats reserved for the royals, denoted by built-in gilt crowns high above the choir stalls. That’s the first Spanish connection with London that I’ve discovered here.

Afterwards, I was walking down Marylebone High Street, much nicer than Oxford Street to see shops although the offer is of course much smaller and I found a very interesting place, a lovely library specialized in travel books, with a galleried hall at the back and a stained glass roof. Even if you had not the intention of buying something, you’ll do because of its super nice atmosphere.

And tomorrow, back to office, I’m really lazy to come back to work, but at least I’ve practiced a little tonight English. Let’s see if I haven’t forgotten to speak tomorrow!.

London, a quiet place

Since the last week I have the feeling that I’ve lived in a small town. This sounds very strange living in London, isn’t? Before moving here I had London in my mind as a very stressful city. But the reality has been very different. I might not be very objective because I live in a very central location and it might not representative of how London in general is, but the thing is that I feel more relaxed here than in Madrid since I moved here in July. Why? That’s because London is very much spread. There parks in everywhere, the buildings normally don’t have more than three or four floors that result in a lot of open spaces so in the end you never have the feeling that you are shut in, on the contrary, sometimes when you are walking down the streets it seems like you are not in a big city at all. Traffic is not so high except on the main roads like Oxford Street or Bayswater road. There is a little church besides my apartment that play its bells every hour the same as if I was in my parents house!

As I promised myself, I didn’t go out at night either last Friday or Saturday. I think it was a good disposal. In the end it was so calm that I almost didn’t leave my neighbour. Saturday in the morning I took the bus to go to a farmer market at Orange Square, corner of Pimlico Road and Ebury Street, SW1. http://www.lfm.org.uk/ I was talking with the farmers about cheese, meat, fish…I was queuing for fresh fish and I started to talk with two women about recipes, at some moment the grocer tells us “check in internet”. The funny thing is that she is telling this not only to me but also to the two women that are 50-something. Here, new technologies are quite popular! If you see the square, it could be a typical scene of a small town.

In the afternoon I was walking across Hyde Park. I’m drawn to come to this place almost every weekend. I was surprised because of the high number of people riding horses. Coming back to home, I cross Hyde Park Garden Mews, with the horses in the streets, and it seems like if I was in a small village. Looking at the entrance of the houses and at the little gardens I could appreciate the first flowers of the spring.

On Sunday, I organized a lunch at my apartment with an American girl, a New Zealander girl, a Spaniard and I. Very nice conversation and as usually when people don’t each other very well, we started to speak about trivial things like work, renting expenses, our countries but we end up talking about relationships. We hadn’t seen each other since beginning of December and all of us had something interesting to tell so that’s why after two bottles of wine nobody wanted to go home and the chat was still very lively.

Today I’ve had more social life in my neighbourhood. In Spain, social life at work is done at lunch time. In England is after work. “Do you fancy going to the pub? Already, it is only 5.30! Come on, let’s go to Victoria!” Victoria is a pub located only 200 m from my house so I couldn’t say “no”. “One of the best pubs in London” they told me very excited-. In addition, some English people came so it was a good chance to exchange opinions and views about our cultures. My colleagues were right, Victoria Pub has the typical warm atmosphere of the best English pub. They were speaking about the passion that English people have for team sports but they admitted that although they made up a lot of them like football, others have learnt to practice them better! “Dam it; it is incredible that we are not going to play the Eurocup!” “I have to admit the Cesc Fabregas and Torres are ones of the best of the Premier League!” After two pints of Leffe, Belgian beer that I’m getting used to having, I decided to go home, a little drunk to be honest. Instead my colleagues drunk at least 3 pints and they were fresher, how can they make it?

My neighbourhood is very nice but I’m thinking of making last weekend up by going out a little next weekend… !

Paris, city of light

Paris is part of my new life in London. Once a month I have to go to the capital of France because of business travels.

I’ve kept always good memories of Paris. It was the destination of the trip that we organized when we passed the third course of my degree. It is the place when I met for the last time a good friend. And now it is part of my new life here.

On the other hand, I didn’t have a good feeling of French people in general before moving here because of the typical competition between neighbours. In my subconscious was the fact that my parent house was burnt during the French invasion in the XIX century, we discovered this by doing some improvements some years ago when we knock down a wall and we could saw how some burn rests still remained. In addition I got quite upset when I read all the damages that they caused in Burgos at that time. Still if you go to the “Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña” you can see how the French soldiers damaged the faces of the sculptures because in their leaving they didn’t have time to devastated everything. And look, this is the worst part: In this sacking, they desecrated the tomb of the most important hero in the Spanish history: “El Cid”. Fortunately, a French man gathered his rest scattered on the ground, he kept in a little box and that’s why after the war they were found in a house near the Cathedral. God bless you, my friend.

But that is history. We can not judge people nowadays because of the acts done by their ancestors, it is ridiculous. So in the end I’ve changed my concept about France and even I was supporting them last weekend during the 6 nation’s championship. It can be also because a French company pays for salary me every month!

Travelling is a good thing to leave chore for some time. The trip to Paris is easy, only 2.15 hours via high speed train. I took the train early in the morning. Some workers like but also I could see in my couch two couple in their mid forties drinking champagne (an obsession in London as I've mentioned some times) and with the look of people that are travelling for pleasure. Sure they were going shopping or just to spend 2 days doing tourism.

Paris is one the most beautiful cities in the world. Only walking down its streets is a unique experience. Each time I go, I try to visit a different area after work. I go usually to the same hotel, it is located in Montparnasse, the famous painters’ quarter. This time I was very lucky, my room is on the 19th floor, with an amuzing view.

I decided to go for dinner to a close restaurant that is in Catalognia square. I felt at home, what a Spanish name! It was Monday and still it was almost full at 8, a good signal of its quality. Besides me, there were two couples of business men and a group of Asian people enjoying the French goodness.

When I took the metro I noticed once more their good wearing style, they have a very good taste and you can realize why they are the capital of fashion. The mixture of races is almost like in London but less international. It is like if people in Paris assumed very quickly that they are living in Paris they have to look like French whereas in London there is more a feeling of staying temporarily without loosing their identity. I could hear some Spanish speakers, we are around everywhere. In only 20 minutes I got to the “champs elysees”. Despite the fact that it was Monday, the street was crowed of people at 22.00. I can not be surprised when it said that more than 500,000 people are here every day. The avenue is lined with cinemas, boutiques, restaurants, tearooms and café terraces. At last, the Arc de Triomphe, standing at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle.

I came back to the hotel at 22.45. I go to the bar with my laptop to browse on internet taking advantage of the free WIFI. There are many people, I think when you travel for business, somepeople feel a little alone being out of home and they look for a warmer atmosphere out ot the hotel room. Even It seems like if a woman who is in a table in front of me is looking at me?? No, I'm kidding! But be careful because in these kind of hotels, full of business men, I've seen more than once a sort of "professional women" around...I decided to go to my room and I still had time to watch TV, in fact, I came just on time to watch the debate between Rajoy and Zapatero. I hope it was useful for our future!

My back was next day in the afternoon. In the train the same image as the day before. Some workers like me, with the faces looking like very tired and a group of people, this time in their thirties, with a lot of shopping bags from luxurious brands. It is clear that there a lot of rich people in London!

B Bar and the mascarade party

It has been a quiet weekend in the end. One of the best things has been to stay in bed until late and to have a “Spanish breakfast” with tomato, olive oil and even real ham. And of course a good coffee, I can not do without it. It looks like very good, doesn’t it?

The weather is becoming better in London, it is warm and even during the majority of weekend sunny. The spring is coming. The bad thing is that I have to go to bed earlier as it is difficult no to be woken up with the light early in the morning. I my bedroom in Madrid I could manage a complete dark but here it is not possible with only curtains, and bearing in mind that my window looks out at the east, why here don’t they use blinds? If I could do up something in my apartment I would start with this.

Friday I was invited to a birthday from a colleague from the office, but I was really tired after all the week and as no one from the office intended to go I didn’t feel confident enough to socialize with unknown English people. I was lazy; I have to do away with these fears, next time I’ll not miss the chance to meet new English people. I rented a film called: “Love, Honour & Obey” typically English, it was only ok, and the script for me was overdone and silly.
On Saturday I stayed at home during the day, putting things in order, reading one of the best books I’ve ever read: “Tuesdays with Morrie” (Ji, thanks for your recommendation!) and watching TV. At 6 my phone rang “Yes, of course, I’ll be there at B Bar at 7.30”. I didn’t want to discard this chance to have fun. My Belgian mates had reserved a table in another trendy place: B Bar. In fact the plan included also a private party at the same place after dinner.

I have to take back my remarks concerning the quality of the restaurants in London. B Bar was more ok, a menu for 35 Pounds that included three courses + coffee. Well, the problem is if you order 5 bottles of wines for 6 people…., it reminded me the dinners that I used to have in Madrid with my friends, … then the budget can rise dramatically and my friends like to drink too much! It could be my fault; I chose a Monteviejo Festivo 2004, Malbec, from Argentina that was excellent. By the way, I went to some interesting places last weeks: “Cocoon”, a Japanese restaurant in Regent Street that in average was 8/10, really good, and “Asia de Cuba”, in Soho, a fushion between Caribean and Asian food. The atmosphere was very special, the courses are very large but the quality is not great and I guess it is a little overpriced. The last one has been “Busabba”, a Thai very close to my house; don’t miss here a Thai pad. Great value for money! I’m getting into Asian food in general, the offer is much bigger here than in Madrid.

After the dinner the masquerade party was supposed to be downstairs. Some people dressed up masques, I was afraid at the beginning that we could end up with the same situation as in the famous film “Eyes wide shut” but fortunately everything it was quieter. There were not so many people but it was fun. Even I run into some colleagues from the office, I realized that London is not so big and as well as in Madrid people are in the same networks and go out for the same places. I went to home at 2.30 h, not so late but this morning I was really tired again!

It hasn’t been a special weekend at all, again part of my new routine. I think next week I’m going to try to make the most of my time by visiting more places during the day and attending more cultural events. I want to squeeze every minute here and the problem of going out at night is that we consume too much energies and in the end not always is worth it. I can not get away with it to be active the following day, so I’ll change my plan for next weekend. It is Sunday evening; it is already dark in London and a new week is waiting for me in London.

Drinking beers with my new CEO

I’m working at an international company with offices in several countries around Europe and even other continents like Africa. There is an International area in the Group that centralizes some activities where I’m working for, although in terms of Human Resources I belong to the affiliate in UK. My role is to coordinate some activities concerning the launching of new products in different countries, so far, UK and France.

Some months ago, a new CEO was announced for our affiliate in UK. He comes from the same industry although he has been working on several fields. His fortune is huge, I guess, several hundreds of pounds, so that he could afford to stay without working anymore, in fact he wasn’t working some months ago, but he believed that this new project was a very interesting challenge and he was after this new job. That’s what he said during an interview that was published on a famous newspaper some weeks ago.

Last week all of the employees based on our office at Paddington, we were invited to have drinks at 6pm onwards by him, he wanted to be presented. It was exciting as for me that was the first official event with my colleagues from the office.

I stayed in my desk until 6.30. In Spain if you are called to be at 6, you have to go at least half an hour later. But when I went downstairs almost we were run out of drinks! I had a beer to feel more British. I liked these kinds of events. People have different objectives. One of my friends told us, “we should approach that group of girls”, it means, “he wanted to warm his relation with the typical girl with who normally you can only exchange some sentences every day in the office like “hello, how are you doing?” and this way, to move forward to the next step that might be to go to the pub. Other colleague told me “we should say hello to our manager”. It means, “Let’s flatter our boss, the annual review is coming”. And other didn’t stop looking at a colleague that owned us a document “I’m going to tell something to Roman”, that means “you can not answer my emails but now you are not going to escape”.

In the meantime I was very curios to see new super boss. At 7 he appeared, dress up very casual and he started the speech. Very simple, very close, I enjoyed a lot. It was a combination of strategic marketing lesson plus an amount of motivation. No more than 30 minutes.

Drinks continued but some people started to leave the canteen, today we had Arsenal and Manchester playing champions league. I didn’t care about it, I was very happy yesterday because of Liverpool’s performance. Torres was again crucial in the victory by forcing a red card. I stayed talking with a Polish friend who has a girlfriend from Burgos, that is a good link, isn’t? And we saw how our CEO still was with us. His attitude was like if he was a colleague more and we could see him talking with everybody. We couldn’t miss this chance and we introduced ourselves: I’m Rodrigo, from Spain. I was a little embarrassed because of my bad English but he was really nice with us, without stop talking and very natural. What a difference compared to the top management in Spain! I may have been bad lucky and I’ve been working in Spain only for two companies but I really appreciate the attitude of this gay.

Before saying good bye, he stopped a woman who was passing in front of us as he recognized her as one of the people that raised some questions in public after his speech. In fact she asked him about his favourite film. He answered “The Italian Job” because of his passion for racing cars. It was very fun because she was a little drunk, I couldn’t understand what she was telling us and this time I guess it was not only because of my bad English!. That’s a different culture, I thought, I couldn’t imagine the CEO I had in Spain standing a conversation with a drunk worker. After 30 minutes of amused conversation, we put out our beers, we left them and I came to my beloved apartment in Kendal Street. We were not putt off him.

The back to home from the office is nice, I walk during 10 minutes inside typical English houses, and always is a good time to relax and think about the things that happened during the day at the office. Today I started with two annoying conferences call. But I ended up with a smile.

Welcome to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,

Last two weeks are being extremely sunny in London and I wanted to make the most of it by going outside.

Kew gardens is one of London’s treasures. You can explore different regions of the world and see some of planet’s rarest plants, as well as mango tres, giant palms, banana trees and more. It is in the East of London normally, about 40 minutes from the City centre.

Unfortunately I didn’t see everything last Saturday because of a failure in the Tube. The line from Hammersmith to Kew Gardens was suspended and my special visitor (thanks for your patient!) and I were trapped in a bus in a traffic jump. It took us to get to the gardens from Victoria Station almost 2 hours, what a disaster! But it was beyond our control. It has been the first time that I’ve gone out of the city centre and I’ve learnt that as well as in Madrid, here during the weekends the highways can be a chaos. We got to the place at 2.45 and it closed at 4.15. My recommendation is to go there at earliest at possible and to plan to spend at least 3 hours.

In the end it was very worth it. I don't remember such a beauty Botanic Garden like this. I haven’t seen so far many British gardens but I guess this a good example of England’s green and pleasant countryside. We had time to go through the famous Palm house where we could admire plants from all around the world. When you walk through their humid tropical rainforests, you can discover how we can depend on the plants that inhabit these parts of the world. In the basement there is a small but excellent tropical acuarium.

Outside, the landscape is amazing. The mix of different colours, type of plants, glass houses, lakes and historical buildings has a bearing on the beauty of this place. We enjoyed a lot by strolling.

Another reason to come now is the fact that Kew Gardens is hosting until April a landmark open-air exhibition of 28 large-scale sculptures by the acclaimed artist Henry Moore. We didn’t pay so much attention on this but we could realized how the sculptures complemented the landscape and I think it can be very interesting to see it from the other side, that is, to see how the changing light affect the sculptures throughouth the seasons.

Given that we are in winter, we couldn’t see so many seasonal flowers but at least we found the area around the Victoria Plaza transformed by a stunning Crocus carpet. Here, hundreds of thousands of purple and white flowers appeared to create a magnificent burst of colour. And also we could admire some Narcissus along the Broad Walk that links the Orangery to the Palm House.

We had to run to be on time at the exit since we wanted to spend until the last minute and we finalized the visit when at the Lion Gaten at 4.20, very closed to a beautiful Pagoda, the most distinctive landmark.

Sometimes when you visit a place, and you left it, you see at your back and you think, I’ll come back once more. This was the case.

TV

TV is part of the culture of each country. In Spain I used to watch only films, news and sports.

During my staying in London, I’ve discovered that some sports like pool are more popular than I thought,

I’ve noticed the English passion for the gardens,

I’ve realized the obsession for finding a home, (“location, location”)

For finding a good place to live in Spain or other sunny country or simply to go for holiday,

There are a lot of English TV series and American films. Foreign films are not dubbed. So far I’ve only seen one Spanish film shown on TV. That’s a sample of the “incredible” commercial success of modern Spanish films. Fortunately for them, some subsidies are coming from the government. At least I try to promote as much as I can Alejandro Amenabar’s films, the only Spanish Director that I really like. I felt happy when I found last week in a Library “Open your Eyes” one of my favourite films.

The fact that cooking is on fashion. Jamie Olivier is really famous here. My manager is very clever, I like to listen to his comments and the other day he told me when we were having lunch: “cooking here is becoming very fashionable because everybody wants to show that they are able to do something on themselves. This is something new with cooking but the concept DIY – do it yourself, has been always present in English life. If I dare you to do something, you should be ready and able to do it!”

I haven’t seen so many programs about celebrities, that is really a good sign.

And there is a good offer of scientific programs above all on BBC. I don’t usually spend a lot of time watching TV but today I made the most of my evening by watching an interesting one regarding how we make decisions. It has to do with the fact that even though we seem to make decisions based on rational analysis, it is not true and our non rational part of our brain plays a very important role. The program concluded that we have to take into account that:

- We can be manipulated very easily. They gave the example of how to have a cold or a hot drink with somebody can make a difference at the time of getting an opinion about that person. If a have a coffee with a person, it is likely that I’m going to have a warmer impression about that person than if I have a cold coke. So, if you want to engage with somebody at work for example, don’t invite him or her to a bottle of water but better to a coffee.

- We have a nasty tendency to dress up bad decisions as great ones. In this case, an experiment was shown where a person offered to the volunteers to choose between two pictures of people. The volunteer chose one, but at that moment, the person who was running the experiment, like a magician, swapped the picture, liked it was a card, to give the other one. In 80% of the cases, the volunteers didn’t realize about this change and when they were asked for justifying their decision, they found a lot of arguments. The thing is, even when they could be a little confused, they preferred to find arguments to support their initial (they thought) decision instead of showing in public that they were changing their mind.

- Finally we should follow our intuition. Another experiment supported this statement. It consisted of volunteers that were visioning a sequence of pictures. Unexpectedly, they were able to predict the nice pictures and the disgusting ones. It was measured from the brain signals emitted that showed that before a nice picture was shown, the person was emitting the signal that corresponded to this kind of images. It was like if human beings would have the ability to predict the future and we could make decisions based on something beyond present. Strange, but it is a fact.

I was thinking after the program if I made the right decision when I moved here and why I did. I don’t think I was manipulated, I don’t believe I’ve being tried to dress up my decision (or maybe yes and that's whay I'm writing about some topics in this blog) and maybe I could predict part of the future…Anyway, I enjoyed the program a lot and I’m going to watch a little more TV. But forgive me if the next program that I plan to watch is not very intellectual: “Bolton – Atletico Madrid”. I hope I’ll enjoy a lot, do you know what I mean?

Back to routine

Sunday, 03-02, 12:00

It has passed a long time ago since I published my last post. I’ve spent one holiday week in Spain and by the way it was really cool: six nights in “Formigal” (Pyrenees), 1 night in Madrid and 1 night in Roa. There is a saying: “you can not see the mountain from the top”. Sometimes to have a clear and objective idea or knowledge about something you have to get away from it and to watch it from the distance. That’s what is happening with Spain and all that I left there and even with the new things that I’ve discovered recently.

I think I haven’t done anything very “special” in London in January. What do I mean for “special”? Is it because I already feel at home and living here is not a novelty anymore?

I’ll tell what has happened this week as an example of my new routine. Work at the office is getting better. My desk is already cluttered with my stuff. My English is still rubbish but at least I can hold a conference call with native English during 2 hours (as this Friday, it was too long!) without so stress as I had at the beginning. Still I don’t fell very confident and I’m sure that I don’t understand the nuances of some expressions but at least I can get by and I can endure this.

Here in UK, the famous TV series in Spain (Camera café) would not be successful as it is impossible to find a person near the vending machine more than the time required to come the coffee out to bring it to their desks. That’s why I have my daily coffee at 9.15 just when I come in the office or after lunch as for me there is no coffee without a chat and at that moment it is easier to manage company to sit down in the canteen for a while. I usually have lunch two or three days a week with my colleagues from my department and the rest are for to meet some friends from the office, most of them from the Spanish Community. I have a very good atmosphere with my colleagues. London is incredibly open and you feel at home after 2 weeks living here. In some way it reminds me Madrid. I don’t spend more than one hour for the lunch time but at 6.30 as the most I leave the office. It is a good deal. The last new is the football team that some colleagues have launched called the “Orange Galacticos”. They asked me several times to join them to have a “Primera Division” representative but I have to admit that I haven’t played football for the last 10 years!

I’ve got used to working here. The main difference is the fact that I have to take care of a lot of details, everything has to be planned in advance and it is not possible to use short cuts. But on the other hand it is nice to go to the office knowing that you are not going to have suddenly a crisis. That disorganization is part of the Spanish culture although I have to state that things here are easier as there are more resources for everything.

Here Wednesdays have replaced Thursday as the weekly day to go out for dinner. As usual I did it with my Belgium and Dutch friends. We had an invitation to go to a Scandinavian party in Kings Road so we tried to find a restaurant near there. We were adventurous and we came into “The Bluebird”. A very trendy place very suitable for the “Loaners” (people from Chelsea, it comes from the “Loane Square” that is in the middle of the neighbourhood, as my nice friend Sophie explained to me yesterday). Nice style, very posh, good service and … crap food, nothing special at all. People must pay to be seen instead of for having nice food I thought. The worst thing was the bill, extremely expensive although it is true that we ordered also “some” cocktails and “digestive liquors”. Anyway, it is likely that I come back but never for dinner, just for a drink. Afterwards we went to the club “Raffles”. We found the same atmosphere as in Bluebird: very modern, good style but the drinks were incredibly expensive and the people we met there they seemed to be for posing. And we didn’t meet any Scandinavian person at all! Most of them they were sit down and drinking champagne. I thought, does everybody like champagne as the only thing to drink? I have to admit that the place was glamorous but a little boring. We were nearly to leave it without having any drink but in the end we decided to stay. Fortunately I was the most responsible one and I left it around 1 whereas my friends stayed there more time… I could notice next morning in the office!

Saturday afternoon, I was having a very nice lunch in front of the Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Café Rouge with a good company. We had a very nice conversation addressing subjects such as the actuality concerning Media companies in UK and Spain, policy (general elections are coming in Spain), work and life in general. I’m very keen on having these quiet chats during the weekends, with a good café late or lunch and if I make the most of it by exploring London it is perfect.

Saturday night, I went to have dinner to Lonsdale. It is without any doubt the most visited place by me during the weekends since I moved here. There is very good music, prices are reasonable and people are nice. It is the typical place in Notting Hill. I like the style of people here, mixing formal clothes with informal ones. I didn’t want to look different and I wore a formal coat with jeans, and a beard of 7 days! We were 2 Belgian, one French man, one French woman and I. At the end of the dinner one Scottish man and another French girl joined us. We ordered some wine, Pinot Noir from California and 2 bottles from Chile to start and Blue label Johnny Walker to end... The dinner was ok and ten times better than Bluebird as my Belgium friend didn’t stop saying. He revealed me where his obsession for food and wine come from. The thing is in Belgium it is very popular to have gastronomic weekends for all the family. So from their childhood they are educated to be very picky with the food. I’m sure it is part of the Spanish legacy. As time goes on I’m more convinced about the fact that Spaniards take after Belgian. I was hoping to leave home very early but at the end it was 11 when I left.

So I haven't known new places. Today, the typical things that you can expect from a Sunday: put in order my apartment, reading the newspaper, cooking, gym, watching “the match of the day” on TV (Torres scored yesterday again!) and Skyping … So do I have a new routine? I think so. Madrid is over for the moment…

Panic at Gatwick

I had already forgotten my toughest day in London, but today I received the fifth email that I’ve interchanged with Easyjet claiming for my rights! I’m quite upset with them!

So yes, so far, my toughest day in London has been in an airport….

Friday 21 Dec,

14.30 h

I left the office eager to get the airport and to fly to Madrid. My flight leaves at 16.50 h. I have prepared my mind to be off some days and I was only thinking of the things that were waiting for me there (what a good time I had in Spain in the end!…). I had organized an informal dinner with my friends that Friday, a nice meeting before going to my home town, my beloved “ROA, la Villa del Duero”, the best place in the whole world J

I took the Gatwick Express. First alarm: I almost can not find a seat. It is full of people! I got the airport with plenty of time. 30 minutes in the queue for check in and I was ready to pass the security control. Hopefully it didn’t take me more than 10 minutes.

15.30 h

I’m inside and there is a crowd of people looking at the screens, watching the departures schedule. “EZY5479 Madrid please, wait” OK, time to go to the duty free, I thought. I was looking around and couldn’t avoid buying the last presents: Irish Whisky, biscuits and toys from Harrods…I come back to the screens “EZY5479 Madrid, please, wait”. Ok, I think I’m afraid that the dinner is going to be at 10.30 h rather than 9.30 h! As more time passes, more people are closer to the screens. And suddenly it occurs; all the Easyjet flights that are supposed to depart after mine are cancelled! It seems that the motive is the fog that is causing some delays that are being accumulated and therefore making impossible to operate the flights planned for the late afternoon. The People become to protest obviously, a man with a microphone shouts to announce what we have already seen. I go to speak with one of the representative workers and he confirms me that my flight is still open and it is supposed to be operated. Ufh, what a relief! Although that’s good news, I don’t feel confident at all. I keep in front of the screens drinking a bottle of water. There is still another delayed Easyjet flight for Amsterdam. Time goes on and nothing changes. A girl that was prior to me decides to sit down on the ground, she seems very tired and without hope. Some faces start to look tired. Most of us are there because of the flights that go to Madrid and Amsterdam. I can’t stand up more time and I go for a seat in the middle of the room.

18.30 h

The next announcement comes:”EZY5479 Madrid delayed until 8.50” “Amsterdam goes to 36”.

Hey! At least I’ll sleep in Madrid. Even though I’m going to land at 1 am I’m still up for one drink tonight in Madrid. – I thought - I decided to go for an English burger on the first floor. I had to wait for a long queue.

19.15 h

I was about to order my burger when I can listen to the bad news: “The flight EZY5479 is cancelled”. I leave the queue quickly to go downstairs and check what is happening. No doubt, it is confirmed, I have to stay in London. We go for our luggage, the feeling is strange, and we are waiting for the luggage as we had landed right now but after almost 4 hours at the airport we have to come back home.

Hopefully I met two very nice Spanish girls there. Sonia and Mónica. We tried to encourage each other and the most important thing, we tried to help us to find a new flight to go to our Country! It was a difficult moment as almost all the flights were sold out … for some moment we were very nervous and I could see some tears on the faces of some people in the surround … but hopefully after half an hour giving calls to our friends to get their support, we managed new flights for the 23 and the Monica’s case for the 24. Hopefully I had my laptop I could do just there on myself. But can you imagine the situation for old people in their sixties? I could listen to some comments like: “I’ve booked a new flight for the 24th in the afternoon”. I’m sure that more than one didn’t been able to meet their family for the “Nochebuena” (Christmas dinner in Spain that is celebrated on the 24th night). Easyjet’s representative didn’t do anything to help us that were very disappointed and we were very put off by them. I was very upset but it was better to get calmed as we couldn’t do anything there at that time. They only gave us a sheet with some information about the telephone numbers that we could phone to claim the reimbursement of the cancelled flight. It was a shame.

23.00 h

Fortunately I got my apartment, but very tired and exhausted. With the presents that I had bought at the airport, what a bad joke! I was a little down for that night thinking about the time lost.


22 Dec

Just after getting up and having breakfast, I was reading the conditions of Easyjet and as I suspected, they were obliged to manage us a new flight and to pay for the cost of the staying until the new departure. So, if you have a similar issue in the future, please, don’t stop claiming for your rights no matter the reason why the company cancelled the flight.

Monica, Sonia and me were talking about it and hopefully that morning at least had already got the reimbursement of the flight. It was easy to be put through the customer service, at least, one good point for this company. Since then, I’ve also managed the cost of the transport to Gatwich on the 21st. I’m still claiming for the difference between the cost of the new flight compared to the original one, but without success. I’m afraid that I’m going to heat the tune of my emails as my initial polite approach hasn’t been enough.

23 Dec

15.00

I travel to the airport very worried about the new fog … but hopefully there was no any sign of this when I got it.

20.00 h Madrid

Viva España! I’m in Madrid. I wait for my luggage and the last surprise…my luggage comes out without a corner, it means, it has been crashed! The end couldn’t be other way. But at least I’m at home.

Speaker's Corner

My apartment in London compared to my flat in Madrid is small. It has a living room with a kitchen, the bathroom and a bedroom. But I like it very much. One of the reasons is the abundance of natural light. After having dinner and some drinks in Noting Hill with my friends last night, I expected to be lazy to get up. But a ray of light woke me up relatively early. My bedroom’s window faces the east and occupies almost the full left side of the room. So, when I got up and moved the curtains I had almost to wear my sun glasses and I couldn’t stay in bed!

When it is sunny in London, the activity in the city goes up as it was the last time that we are going to see the sun. People go to the street and to the parks and you can see a lot of traffic in Bayswater roads with people driving their convertible cars. The terraces are full of people, even with only 5 or 6 degrees that it is really funny for Spaniards. So I decided to behave as a real Londoner. I had a light breakfast: some fruits, cereals, coffee (made with my new “Senseo coffee machine”) and I was ready to go outside.
As I live beside Hyde Park, I couldn’t find a better way of beginning the day as going jogging to the park. I entered from Bayswater road and I followed the way toward KnightBridge.

It was very lively, with a lot of people making exercise or just walking. I crossed the Serpentine (a sort of lake) through the bridge and I surrounded it looking for the Hyde Corner, in front of the “Wellington Arch”. I stands a tribute for other hero in Britain. The scene was wonderful. It wasn’t like in the summer when you can see everything in a bright green or like in the autumn where leaves died add a wide range of new colours. But even in winter the park has plenty of beauty.

On the way to come back to home I found a group of about 10 people, walking very slowly. It called my attention as they were walking also in silence with a person standing a sign in the head of the group where I could read: “Please, join us in silence and just walk”. I never thought that people could join themselves just to walk in silence, very slowly in a row as a therapy. They conveyed a lot peaceful and I was about to join them for a while but I decided that I hadn’t sweated enough and I kept running.

After some minutes I found the famous Speaker’s Corner. That’s one of the examples of the tolerance and diversity in Britain. Everyone can apply to speak freely from there about what ever you want. There were two people speaking and separated only by 50 meters, one with a speech about the good things of Muslim religion and the other one denouncing their crimes in general and specifically in Africa. The good thing was to be able to watch both of them speaking freely and trying to convince their audience with their words. I was attending the second one and could see the discussion between the speaker and one attendant as this one started to call him liar several times concerning some statements that had came up previously. The dispute was going up and I could hear some sentences like “I’m sure you don’t pay your TV license!!!” Concerning this I want to make a remark, that is a sample of the concept of “civil education” that there is here. It is not possible for the government to check who uses a TV at home and therefore who should pay for it but everybody pays. And if you don’t pay it, it is considered as a shame for you. Could you imagine it in Spain?

At the end, the good thing was that nothing became really unpleasant and both could get across their arguments. And again I ask myself, when would it be possible in other countries? Even in Spain, it is not possible, at least in some regions unfortunately …

As you have realized as time goes on, I’m happier to live here. Of course I miss some things like the food, “los Reyes Magos” (¡Felices Reyes!), the sun and specially “my people”. But fortunately ... I have a cheap phone tariff and …“Skype” exists! and today ..... it was very sunny in London.