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.
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.
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