How do you know that you've been in London too long?

1. You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which part of town you are talking about.

2. You have never been to The Tower or Madame Tussauds but love Brighton.

3. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Shepherds Bush to Elephant & Castle at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Dorset on a map.

4. Hookers and the homeless are invisible.

5. You step over people who collapse on the Tube.

6. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multilingual.

7. You've considered stabbing someone.

8. Your door has more than three locks.

9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.

10. You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a garden.

11. You consider Essex the "countryside".

12. You think Hyde Park is "nature".

13. You're paying £1,500 a month for a bed-sit the size of a walk-in wardrobe, you call it a "studio", and you think it's a bargain.

14. Shopping in suburban supermarkets and shopping malls gives you a severe attack of agoraphobia.

15. You pay more each month to park your car than most people in the UK pay in rent.

16. You pay four pounds without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.

17. You actually take fashion seriously.

18. You have 27 different menus next to your telephone.

19. The UK west of Heathrow is still theoretical to you.

20. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.

21. Your idea of personal space is no one actually physically standing on you.

22. £50 worth of groceries fit in one plastic bag.

23. You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever" stories.

24. You don't hear sirens anymore.

25. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's air/water quality and what it's doing to your insides.

26. You live in a building with a larger population than most towns.

27. Your cleaner is Portuguese, your grocer is Somali, your butcher is halal, your deli man is Israeli, your landlord is Italian, your laundry guy is Philippino, your bartender is Australian, your favourite diner owner is Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was African, your newsagent is Indian..... and your local English chip-shop owner is Turkish.

Is he gonna save us?

Too much hype if you ask me...he's just one more president

Pop Life

If you live in London or plan to go there this fall make sure you stop by the Tate Modern to check out this show which starts October 1st, 2009 POP LIFE: Art In A Material World. The Simple Things which is the sculpture Pharrell & Takashi Murakami collaborated on will be shown there.

Taking it easy

So you've finally made it to Greece for your summer holidays. And you had the time of your life. How do you cope with going back to your UK office and picking up hundreds of e-mails?

You take it easy. One step at the time.

When things are heating, the only way to cope is to slow down. Even when this is 'impossible'. Says who? Have you ever tried to see yourself from a 3rd perspective? It's a bit scary, you might see somebody that you barely recognise, running constantly to reach unrealistic goals.

Summer time in Greece teached me a couple of things:

1. Don't rush anything - relax, take your time. Upon my return, I heard that a member of our senior management team had a heart attack. I don't even want to think that I might end-up like him one day. Even if that means a less fancy job title. I prefer to take it easy and enjoy my days here

2. Be self-conscious. You can only achieve your goals when you know your strengths and where you are good at. Work on your weaknesses and dump anything that wastes your time.

And most of all, have a good time. No matter how you define 'good'.

flying cars in London?

the world’s first usable road-legal flying car comes along, it would be quite easy to dismiss it into the category of outlandish renderings that have no possiblity of actual construction. In this case, we would be quite wrong, however. The Parajet SkyCar, the world’s first bio-fueled flying car, has been under development for several years, and in January, it made a successful air voyage from Europe to Timbuktu. While finished development and testing are still in the future, you can put a down payment on your very own SkyCar today. For around $16,338 (10,000 pounds) you can reserve a SkyCar, which is priced at $81, 700 (50,000 pounds)

the summer of the 'ex'

not in a mood to elaborate the title right now...all I can think of is my flight in a few hours to Athens, and then sailing with my friends to the Aegean sea on a boat

don't know when i'm coming back to London..

i hope you get a proper tan in your private heaven..

Ping Pong Door

This door can be transformed into a table-tennis table where necessary. Ideal for small London appartments to play with your flat mates ;)

When everybody is leaving...not for holidays this time :(

During the last year, we've been living in the swing of 'credit crunch', 'recession' or 'crisis' as the media inform as. We thought that this impacts only the bankers, the brokers and the guys working in the City.

As it turns out, everybody was affected.

Redundancies and unemployment is now clouding the London sky, eating the real clouds for breakfast. Who cares about the weather when your job, your future is on the line?

It's the third incident, somebody close to me was made redundant. One of them was actually smart enough to have insurance against this scenario so he got away with it really smoothly, getting paid for 9 months without even working. Now he got a new contract and it's like nothing really happened. The second is now packing her luggage and leaving London, returning to Greece for good. The third is still in shock as the news are still fresh, so I don't know what will happen in this case...but it certainly doesn't look good.

This only shows how uncertain things are. How long-term planning does not mean much in the current climate. As I've written before, we are all passengers in this London train, and we shouldn't invest too much in this island. Cause investments (time, money, dreams, relationships, etc...) can go terribly wrong and we are left with nothing.

I'll come back to this 'passenger' theme as the messages I'm getting from other friends have the same kind of theme.

When everybody is leaving

Don't you just hate that feeling? When all your friends start to take off, going back to beautiful Greece for the summer? And you are left behind, waiting impatiently for your turn to pay a visit to Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted or Luton...

It's mid-July, and day by day, Greek Londoners are deserting the battle ground. Who can blame them? After the incredibly hot week we experienced in the City, the miserable weather is back. Rain every day. Having to pack in the tube to go to the office every day. Your iPod is full of summer tunes bringing you memories of the beach. Distant memories that you hope you will re-live soon.

But how soon is "soon"?

For me, it's tomorrow. Sometimes, I feel I just can't wait. I hear the sea calling me. But all I can see is a pale body which used to be so dark. And it will be again, just give me a couple of days on that beach.

For others, it's a couple of weeks. They were smart enough to 'break' their holidays in order to enjoy Greece 3 times, once every month. The problem with that is going back (see my previous post, "Returning"). Too many back and forths can cause serious problems in re-adjusting. The danger of staying mentally back is obvious.

Then, for some, it's in August! Typical Greeks (ellinares) who inevitably link summer holidays with 10-20 August, the busiest time of the year for the islands. It's one thing waiting for August when you are in Athens, and another when you have to put up with the shitty weather for 2 1/2 months before you actually touch sand. The only way to make it through that is to keep your mind occupied (call me work) and have something to look for. Something sweet. Something that will take all your frustration away.

Rare exceptions exist. Greeks that choose to travel to far-away destinations, thinking that it's their only opportunity to discover our planet. It's true, it's so much cheaper to travel from London. But in what inner cost? I guess, these exceptions are the loners, people who don't really have any real friends waiting for them in Greece. The ones that are fully integrated to the living-abroad lifestyle and they don't really miss home. After all, they think, we are going to spend the rest of our lives there, so why not exploring now? Good point, but arguable.

No matter what you do, take some time off and enjoy yourself.

You deserve it!

Cloud Umbrella by Joonsoo Kim

This would be cool in the rainy streets of London. A unique way to mark your territory and make a difference in the City :)

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