Squirk's Overseas Experience

The tales of one Kiwi returning to Mother Britain and exploring the Big Wide World... without being eaten by a shark.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Art, language, society, weather

There's a wonderful new place on Oxford Street, opposite the enormous Freddie Mercury. I'm not sure my new discovery has a name, or even what it is — it's like a gang of street artists broke into an unused retail space and covered it with subversive creations like Santa's Ghetto and the Heinz Beans Looter.

If you're in the area, do check it out (before they get busted?).

Also in the area, I had my first language swap with some friends I met through work (one German, one Polish). We managed to thoroughly disturb the whole coffee shop practicing the difference between the shh sound of of Polish s and the ssh sound of Polish ś. Slavic languages sure have a whole lot of different whooshing and hissing noises; my poor English ears can only begin to discern them!

Some fellow tube passengers noticed my copy of GQ Magazine in German and we actually struck up a friendly conversation. This may not seem noteworthy unless you're familiar with the mandatory surliness rules for London transport. To be fair, the conversation did take a turn for the worse when they discovered my vegetarian tendencies. They seemed to consider it a kind of frightening disability, on par with losing one's legs or waking up deaf.

Also, a tornado caused some grief a couple of kilometers from my house. My own roof appears to be intact!

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4 Comments:

  • At 10:12 am AEDT, Blogger Joel said…

    Yeah, it's quite funny how some people react to vegan/vegetarianism. Either like it's a disease, you come from another planet, or some start acting all defensive (because deep down they feel bad, but are not willing to give up their own pleasure).

    So are there any good vegetarian restaurants in London?

     
  • At 12:15 pm AEDT, Blogger Squirk said…

    joel: There are plenty of Indian restaurants in London, and many of them are all-veg (and BYO). Brick Lane is fabulous, and Drummond Street is has a reasonable selection too.

    There are also a whole bunch of "Tai" buffet-style restaurants that sell fake meat dishes. I'm not too keen on that sort of thing myself, but it seems there's one every couple of blocks.

    Red Veg is burger & fast food joint that has a communist theme and an all-veg menu. It's a pity there's not more of these.

    Mildred's is good stuff if you can get a seat. The prices are high but the oh-so-camp waiter and disdainful bar staff make it feel more like dinner and a show.

    I could go on for a while, but I couldn't miss out mentioning Hummus Bros. They somehow make a filling and delicious meal almost entirely out of hummus. And they have a remarkable aloe vera drink!

     
  • At 9:52 pm AEDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Its definetly a disease...

     
  • At 9:55 pm AEDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey Rob, Can you drop me an email (jamesp at lifedirect dot co dot nz) - I have lost your email address.

    Cheers, James

     

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