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London vs Rio

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Did I mention that I’m back in London for 2 weeks? I’ve been really busy since I got back, but I started writing this on Monday morning as I made my way to work:

 

This is the first time I’ve been back to England in a year. I landed less than 24 hours ago and already the contrasts with Brazil have been jumping out at me. Here’s how today started…

 

Duvet

Everyone in Britain sleeps under a duvet (sounds like DOO-vay). A duvet is a thick quilt, traditionally stuffed with goose or duck down, nowadays more commonly filled with cheaper artificial fibres. Outside the temperature is just a few degrees above freezing, so the single sheet that I used back in Brazil would be useless.

 

Duvet

A duvet (AKA quilt). It keeps you cosy when it’s cold, but getting out of bed in the morning can be tough.

 

Morning Water Torture

Getting out from under the cosy duvet is really hard, but things get worse when you get to the shower. Of course the water comes out hot, but in older houses especially, the bathroom itself is often freezing! Back in Brazil I used love a long, cool, refreshing shower in the morning (and usually at least one more later in the day). Here in London it is like cold water torture…

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A Million Meals in London…

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This morning I woke to the sound of cocks crowing and the gas truck playing Beethoven. As Dorothy said, there’s no place like home, and after 2 months away, I’m finally back! But before I get too carried away with all things Brazilian, I thought I’d tie up a few of the loose ends from my time back in London. Depending on your viewpoint, think of this as food-gloating or a few recommendations for your next trip to London.

First of all there was the night out in fast-becoming-trendy Brixton Market.

Apparently there are loads of these stylised shop-fronts around Brixton market. As well as liking the images, I rather enjoyed the fact that Michael's Meat is still displaying an "01" number. 01 numbers were phased out at the end of the 1980s..

 

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The World’s most wonderful train station?

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I’m a big fan of travel, be it across town or around the world. I’ve always known I liked travelling in the ‘around-the-world’ sense, but I only really discovered that I was interested in how people get around town when I started blogging. After a while I noticed that I was amassing more and more Rio transport related posts – how to hail a bus (no mean feat in Rio), priority seats for the obese, metro travel tips, the sexy voiced announcer at the airport.

So I guess it’s only natural that I would find myself continuing this trend during my 2 months back in England. One of the many pleasures of being back has been catching up with old friends and, through a twist of fate, a friend and I recently found ourselves in what was recently described as “the world’s most wonderful railway station”: St Pancras.

 

Victorian Neo-Gothic architecture. Splendiferous! Photo: © Nick Weall

 

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Things you don’t get in Rio

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As I approach the end of my third week back in the UK I have to say that being back here has stirred up a complex mix of feelings. I’ll quickly get the negative part out of the way and say that I miss my special one back in Rio – 2 months is a long, long time. But on the other side of the things, I spent last night enjoying a wonderful meal with my mum at a spectacular restaurant in South East London – when you live more than 5,000 miles away, these occasions are rare and precious.

And as I sit here tapping away, I look to my right and see a delicious glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and a plate of yummy cheese from Switzerland (gruyere, since you ask). If you ever consider a move to Rio, you’d better get used to doing without these little luxuries.

This is just the cheddar section of the medium sized supermarket that I was in today. JUST the cheddar! So much choice and quality! Incidentally, I’m saddened that most of the world is either unaware of cheddar or thinks of it as a dull, tasteless cheese. Real cheddar is rich, sharp and tangy! How I miss it when I’m back home in Rio…

 

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Eat London: Soho.

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Woo, check it out – 2 posts in as many days! I am back baby! And am I going to pick up where I left off yesterday with another tale from my adventures in London.

A stroll through Soho

Last weekend I set off to meet some friends at a Dutch pub located on a street that borders Chinatown and Soho. I hadn’t been to this particular pub in more than a decade, but my memories (made misty through the combined effects of time and Oranjeboom) were that this was what a Londoner might describe as a “decent boozer”.

 

The Oranjeboom was gone, but this Lindeboom went down very nicely, even if it did look a bit like an ice-cream!

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