London Town

I arrive in London town on Friday night after taking the Eurostar which goes under the English Channel, right into the center of the city. It's funny to be a on a train that leaves from Paris, and to get off only 2 hours later and be in a completely different city. My dear friend Hannah, a good friend I met a year ago in India, meets me at the terminal with her friend Katie, a very warm and slightly drunken welcome. They've been at the Crawl all day, standing outside in the sunshine listening to bands rock out. We head back to Hannah's new flat at Queen's Park that she shares with her boyfriend Olly (from Kent), the most British person Ive ever met! In terms of sense of humor that is; I think I laughed at nearly everything he said all weekend. He's a bit of legend, Hannah tells me before, and I immediately see why. He's awesome! And the two of them make a perfect couple.
We sit around their flat, drink cold beers, or watching Summer Heights High (an Australian version of The Office, but set in a school...it's absolutely brilliant) and listen to freakin' good music Olly is an amateur DJ and between him and Hannah, they have a music rep that rivals that of a record company. The music scene in London is huge, and so much bigger than in Paris, esp when it comes to small rock or electronica bands.
The differences between the two cities is striking - here in London, there is a whole underground music scene of offstream, alternative, creative groups and its mostly centered in Camden. I havent sensed any of that in Paris; its more a scene of house or techno music, or influences coming from West Africans making their beats.
Another difference I've noticed, not surprisingly, is that Americans are much more like the British than the French. A little obviously I know, but true, and here's why. Hugs for example; the French wouldnt dream of hugging to greet one another unless of course someone died, but go 2 hrs on the train, and the English are all about hugs ! (as are Americans.) And breakfast: the French just dont eat it. It's small and usually consists of a croissant or a piece of toast. The English? Love a big breakfast! Eggs, bacon, toast, beans, the works! (As, I would like to compare, do Americans.) And tea and milk ! The French don't really do tea, and if they do, it's black almost always. Go two hours north, and the English make a mean cup of tea, always complete with a splash of milk or cream. At work one day in Paris, I put a splash of milk in my café/tea and everyone looked at me like I was crazy and remarked "That's a very English thing to do."
It's fun to see these apparent cultural differences, esp between 2 cities that are only 2 hours away by train (granted, Britain's an island), but that are so so different. We don't really have this concept in America - go 2 hours on a train and well, you'll probably still be in America, where things haven't changed much except for how much milk costs. But between London and Paris, the English and the French, they've evolved into completely different people and unfortunately detest each other for it. I was told all weekend how much the English hate the French (and almost all foreigners in England, there's quite a bit of racism there.)

Saturday morning, after everyone crashed on the floor, Olly cooks us all breakfast, complete with beans, bacon, fried eggs, all put on white bread with ketchup. We sat around in PJs and watched The Goonies, the pinnacle of the 80s as well as Josh Brolin's career. The movie was incredibly corny yet amazing. Katie's boyfriend Tom has a great sense of humor; by the end of the film, the comments made by Tom or Olly had me rolling on the floor.
After a lazy Saturday morning, we rollll out (all 6 of us) and head into Camden Town for lunch before going to see some bands. I basically had no idea what was going on all day but just went with the flow. I adore the British accent and vocabulary and could listen to it all day, esp words like mental! brilliant ! We get some greasy food at the Camden Market and sit by the river with a bunch of tattooed and blue-haired goths. There's some really good people watching around here. And there we stay all day, talking and drinking cider beer until 5 in the afternoon before the bands come on. The river is nice and relaxing, whereas up on the street is an absolute madhouse with the Crawl plus Market Day for the world-famous Camden Market, London's most popular open-air market area with stalls, shops, pubs and restaurants.
We hit up The Camden house for more drinks before going into The Black Cap, our venue for the night to hear The XX, Sportsday Megaphone, Golden Silvers and Tommy Sparks. We just danced our way through the night, esp the last band that was on (Tommy Sparks) was out of this world and so much fun. The crowd was fun and everyone was in a good mood. After hours spent there, we head to the Marathon Kebab Shop where they have a backroom where people come to play guitar or saxophone. It's there where Pete Doherty used to come and play unannounced, in the back of a kebab shop - brilliant. This is the side of London that I love.