The love affair

Things I currently love in London.. Don’t know how long this love affair with London is gonna last:

• You can hear the birds chirping. In the hotel, in the office, in the restaurant, in the house, everywhere around.
• People are at their courteous best. To the extent that it sometimes bugs you. From hulloing each other on the streets to holding the door open(their favorite).
• Apparently you don’t need a beer to say cheers!! Every conversation/mail ends with a cheers.
• The London tube map. You have it in your hand and that’s all you need to get to any damn place in London.
• The winter effect on the trees, every tree is so bald/barren. Not a single leaf in sight.
• The traffic. In 3 weeks of stay here I have only once heard a driver honk.
• The London buses and their amazing turning radius(am not sure if that’s the right term). The turnings that the bus can cut are amazing.
• The girls and the short skirts. No matter how cold the day, the fair sex is out showing their long legs.
• The hairstyles. Men are so particular about their hair, everybody has a distinctive style. Not many like me who jus brush their hair to one side and walk. Spikes and Mohawks and army and straight and so many more unnameable styles..
• The cold!!! As unbearable as it is at times, it comes as a welcome change from the Indian sun.
• The joy in the faces when there is an occasional sunny day. You can actually see people facing the sun and soaking in all the warmth. Lots of sun, lots of fun(line from a cosmetics ad in India, which of course is totally wrong in the Indian context).
• The sri-lankan restaurant Papaya and the extremely spicy Kothu Stringhoppers.. So spicy that I could bring tears in your eyes. And to wash the spice down with Lion beer(sri-lankan) is such a joy.
• The amazing queens walk by the Thames. So crowded with families and yet so tranquil.
• The expense. The city is so expensive that I forces you to calculate and think before spending even a pi(or should I say pence?).
• The smell of incense and kumkum when you walk into some Indian stores.
• The hand dryers in the rest rooms. So powerful and they blow real hot air. But the absolute absence of tissues is disappointing, London is going green(or so they say).

And lastly, the anonymity.