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.

Bars and Restaurants

Food and drink are part of the culture of each Country. When people speak about Spain, they think of bulls, beach, sun, and…tapas!

To be honest, so far I haven’t enjoyed British food so much. Here there is a great mix of cultures and at the end the most interesting thing is to have the opportunity of trying food from almost every country in the world. It is quite obvious that Indian restaurants are the most popular among them but there are others nationalities with a lot of tradition.

So far I haven’t been to many interesting places at all. It is my fault because London has the widest selection on offer in Europe and I have to try more in the second Half of my first year. But I’m going to list the most interesting ones compared to what you can find in Madrid:

- Bars:

Two fantastic places to visit in my opinion are the “Londsale” (above in the picture) and “Beach Blank Babylon” both in Notting Hill, both are reachable from my apartment on foot. The first one is the typical English bar with very good cocktails, good pop music, modern decoration, friendly atmosphere and nice people. I don’t recommend having dinner here as I think the food is not special at all. The 3B’s is more pretentious and expensive but I have to admit that the cocktails are the best ones that I’ve ever tried. I tried a Whisky Sour there and I’m going to repeat this another day.

I dropped by Eclipse, in South Kensington, one Friday some weeks ago but we spent so little time there and we made the mistake of not trying the famous martini melon, so I have to come back another day.

And walking down Soho I found by chance a nice Lounge Bar: The player. Very recommendable for having a drink or have a light dinner if you are in the City centre.

Why have I mentioned all these places that are very strong on cocktails? It is because we don’t have tradition about cocktails at all. There we like only the “combinados”, mixing only a spirit with a soft drink but in a bigger proportion than here. A “rum with Coke” in Madrid is like a double in London or more.

I would like to mention the lack that I’ve found here concerning wines. As the prices are so high, it is not easy to find good wine on the menu. And if you find them, they are not affordable. I think it is still a question of culture and it is not a priority yet. Here the wine is not served properly, I mean, you can see here a glass of wine completely full whereas in Spain everybody fills only half glass just to taste it each time. It is like in Spain we enjoy the flavours more. Here people speaks only about grape varieties like Shyra, Cabernet Sauvignon…this is ok but of course, Rioja and Ribera del Duero, both use “Tempranillo” as the grape variety and the wine is completely different. And what about the ageing of the wine? Again here it seems that it is not important, actually I almost haven’t found aged wine when it is something basic to assess a wine. So questions that I’ve listened to some waiters like “do you want tempranillo or shyra? for me it doesn’t make sense.
But as always I state, I’m sure that in London you can find at least some places with a great wine culture as here you can find everything, but above I speaking generally.

- Restaurants:

To be honest I’ve gone out relatively often for dinner but not to good places. I feel that my colleagues are not really interested in good food but more in the style or the atmosphere of the places. Instead in Madrid we had the objective of trying a new good restaurant at least once a month. But really good restaurants are not so easy affordable here as in Madrid. So far I can only point out one very good Indian restaurant in Regent Street that is really worth it: Veeraswamy. It is absolutely fantastic; the execution of the dishes was more from perfect. Their flavour led you to India. I enjoyed it a lot.

Near my office, Waterway, along the Canal in Little Venice is quite appealing with a warm atmosphere, more than good food and a wide range of wines. It is a trendy restaurant rather than a place for gourmet people. And during the summer you can take advantage of the terrace outside beside the canal.

Just because it seems like a kind of underground place I found quite interesting a Brazilian restaurant called “Barraco”. I went there with an Italian friend who is an expert in Brazilian stuff and according to his opinion it was like being in Rio! It is in North of London, close to Kilburn Park.

Ah! I mentioned that in my “Dutch night” that I had an appointment for a birthday last Saturday. At the end we went to “La Floridita” with a Cuban flavour in any corner was good enough to take into account for another weekend.

What I would really like is to try a good English restaurant and I hope I’m going to make it soon.

Well, I adore London, but concerning food … I have to recognize that I’ve lost with my move, I’m looking forward to eating Spanish food at Christmas!

From the 28th Floor

I can’t complain at all: Two good girlfriends from Madrid, my already usual Belgium mate of adventures and a bottle of champagne. In front of us the most amusing view of London from a glamorous hotel close to Hyde Park. Thanks Nancy for your recommendation!

Sinterklaas Avond

Yesterday I had a great night that often means a bad following day. Today hasn’t been a very productive day at the office…

The thing is I was practicing a lot of English as firstly we had a workshop out of London, so I had to take a train with my colleagues at 8 in the morning in Paddington station. We were talking almost for 2 hours in the train. When we got our office in Bristol, we had meeting, lunch in the closest pub, call the “black sheet”, very typical, and new meeting. Coming back to London at 5 pm in the evening with new 2 hours to discuss about several subjects: cars, sports, watches, technology such as digital cameras, … yes, all of us were men!. Unfortunately none of us were native English speakers actually we were: 1 Belgium man, 2 French men and me and that’s why although It is true that I spend some hours per day speaking in English, it is not so useful for my English as it could be.

Once I arrived in London, I joined the “Dutch Dinner”, organized by some Dutch colleagues from my office to celebrate Saint Nicholas/Sinterklass that is considered a celebration of joy and happiness. This day is celebrated as the arrival of Sinterklaas Avond or St. Nicholas Eve. All over the world, he is known for kindness and generosity. This time we were 1 Belgium man, 5 Dutch men, 1 French man and me. The conversation was about the “stereotypes” and differences of each Country. For example, how are Spaniards compared to Dutch people? We started to speak about Christmas for example and it was very surprising to me to realize how popular “Los 3 Reyes Magos” are in Holland and Belgium. Yes, the “3 Kings, the 3 Kings” they said very excited!! while they banged their pints on the table, of course!! It could have come from the Spanish presence in those lands some centuries ago? I find out that the most popular Dutch stereotype is that they are supposed to be very stingy and … I came up with the sentence“more singy than Catalonian people?”

After that, we started to speak about whether I was or not the typical Spaniard. The Spanish stereotypes are well known: Bullfighting, Sevillanas, Paella, parties, night life, Sun, and Beach…what a different description compared to my home town! I explained to them that Spain is a big Country with a very interesting and complex culture much more interesting that the typical one that people bear in mind. – We work very hard in Spain, we are not all the time in the street or in the bars drinking wine and “cañas” and having “tapas” - I said

But in the end, apart from the physical aspect, I guess that the life style is very similar over the whole of Europe. It is true that I don’t know why it is easy to recognize a Spaniard in the streets. Why? I’m not sure if it is because there is a “Spanish race” or it is because of our style in terms of clothes, haircut,.. but all my colleagues guessed that at least, concerning my physical aspect, I was the typical Spaniard. How disappointing, I thought I was getting a more international look!

But some differences between different countries in Europe came up during the conversation. For example, it is not usual for Latin people to find many expensive cars parked on the streets as in London. Why? Because in Latin countries, including France, people are more envious and they are sometimes more worried about the success of their neighbours than about themselves. Cars represent status, and people tend to think that if other people have a gorgeous car is not because they deserve it and they have got it with their effort but it is because of other dark reasons. And at the end it result in the fact that if you park a Porsche in Madrid on the street, it is very likely that you will find it scratched. Not in London, in my street it is easy to find even a Ferrari parked.

After dinner we went to a pub in the middle of Soho dedicated to Dutch people, so we could continue celebrating Sinterklaas. I thought that only Spanish people tended to be together abroad but I couldn’t believe how was possible to find so many Dutch people together in London, I don’t exaggerate but I’m sure that there were more than 500 people there singing in Dutch. And myself in the middle, not singing not, only trying following the advice of my colleagues “Listen, listen you have to say: ”kdfjdjfafj (impossible to pronounce)” and I said “ok, I’ll try, I’ll try”… We had a lot of fun, with the appreciated help of one product that comes from their main competitor: The Belgium Beer!

One of the main advantages of living in London is the opportunity to meet people from over the world. I can not imagine a place as international as this. This Saturday the meeting is with South American people. A Peru colleague celebrates her birthday and most of their friends are Latin like me. We will see.

The Tower of London

I got up at 10 am, following a kind of Spanish schedule. Yesterday was a sunny morning, not usual in this month and I decided to take my chance to go to see one of the most famous monuments here, “The Tower of London”. I had been to London only once for one weekend before my move in July. Since then I had kept in my mind the image of the Tower and the Bridge Tower as the most impressive sight of London. I think it is because of my passion for middle ages and because of my short visit too as London has many interesting and impressive places to see. The thing is that I just had time only to see them from Southbank. It was almost 10 years ago. And yesterday I could settle my debt.

The first thing you feel when you go into it is “what a lot of things must have happened here during the last 1000 years!” I was watching TV some weeks ago the film “Elisabeth the Queen” with some scenes when she was put as a prisoner there. I could imagine her being brought to the Tower when I stopped at the Traitors Gate, on the waterfront, having been ferried down the Thames from the courts at Westminster Hall. And due to its legend as a dark place to keep prisoners and because of their executions, is how the Tower became famous. I was lucky to find very soon a “Beefeater” and I joined his group to listen to their explanations. The tour started at the Bloody Tower with the terrible murder of the only 12 years old Edward V and his 10-year-old brother, Richard that were accommodated “for their own safety”. Another famous visitor was Walter Ralegh who spent three separate periods there. He was another of the main roles done in the film.

Already, by myself I entered the Beauchamp Tower where the wealthiest of prisoners were placed. Here you can read some graffiti like a sample of what they had in mind before their more than possible death. More graffiti can be seen at the “Lanthorn Tower”. And at the Wakefield you can have a look at some instrument of torture. You really feel inside of the atmosphere of that time and in the shoes of those people that suffered so much here.

But London Tower that started as a watchtower built by William the Conqueror to keep an eye on the City, and then became also a residential royal palace and the place chosen to keep the Crown Jewels. An impressive exhibition is possible to visit at the Waterrloo Barracks, built to the north of the White Tower during the Duke of Wellington’s term since 1327. Take your time to admire the three largest cut diamonds in the world: “First Star of Africa”, “Second Star of Africa” and the Koh-i-Noor.

In the middle of the complex you can find the most important building, the White Tower, the only one that comes from the Middle Ages. With a Norman style, you can realize how could Royal life be inside those walls in the medieaval ages and after. A fireplace called my attention original from that age. Now the building is used as an armoury and you will feel a little sad if you are Spanish watching the exhibition “The Spanish Army” that shows some of the arms captured during the battle agaisnt the Spanish Armada, the failure attempt to invade England. I really enjoyed watching some arms like the classical “Spanish pica” I could imagine how hard must be at that time to be involved in a battle handling that kind of equipment…

When I got out of the building the sun has been replaced by a big cloud that covered us and the surrounds. I come out and crossed the Tower Bridge. On the other side I could see the imposing presence of the Tower. Even, as Monet said, it turn out more impressive:

“I adore London, it is a mass, an ensemble, and it is so simple. What I like most of all in London is the fog. How could English painters of the nineteenth century have painted its houses brick by brick? Those fellows painted bricks that they didn't see, that they couldn't see... I so love London! But I only like it in the winter... It is the fog that gives it its marvellous breadth. Its regular, massive blocks become grandiose in this mysterious cloak."(Monet, quoted in J. House, ""Monet's London: Artists' Reflections on the Thames" 1859-1914)