December in the sun!

During December I returned to my land of birth, South Africa for a month long holiday. Oh the joys of being unemployed! I had a wonderful time with my family and friends and spent some time in Johannesburg, the city I grew up in, and some time at my parent's holiday house which is on a dam about an hour's drive from Johannesburg.

Johannesburg is the biggest city in South Africa and is economically the most important city in all of sub-Saharan Africa. It is also the largest man-made forest and has in my opinion the best climate on earth. The days are warm and the air is perpetually dry. This is because it is one of the few cities in the world at such a high altitude. The altitude together with the almost perpetual daytime sunlight combine to create a sparkly, somewhat dusty atmosphere.

Despite the climate and the many other advantages that Johannesburg offers over other cities, the reason my husband and I decided to emigrate is because of the crime. A drive around Joburg would not betray the fact that the city has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Most of the city is composed of sprawling, tree-lined suburbs which I once heard have more swimming pools per kilometre than anywhere else on earth. The people are incredibly friendly and warm no matter what their demographic and it appears to be a wonderful place. However, if you stay a while and chat to people you may notice the electric fences and high gates surrounding almost every house except for in the shanty towns crammed with people to poor to live in real brick and mortar structures - of which there are millions. The crime stories are quite horrific and are told by everyone from the richest to the poorest of Jozi's inhabitants.

My parents-in-law's cleaner who lives in a township on the city outskirts has a son who was stabbed while walking home one night. The criminals demanded his cellphone and when they found out he didn't have one they stabbed him and stole his shoes. Richer people in the affluent suburbs all have a hundred crime stories to tell. So many that as a former resident it almost bores me to think about it. I was held up at gun point in my own home when I was 17 but because I was the lucky owner of a panic button our private security company arrived promptly and saved me from the thugs. Just the other day one of my parent's friends had a gun fired at his temple at point blank range but the gun didn't go off and so he lived to add his tale to the thousands of others.

There is an Oscar winning film about crime in South Africa called Tsotsi and I would recommend it to anyone interested in getting a glimpse into life in my former homeland. Tsotsi is a word that means a black, urban criminal - almost always a young man - and the word is believed to come from Sesotho which is an African language and one of South Africa's many official languages. 

And so I find myself back in London after the holidays with a feeling of homesickness, yet glad to be able to live somewhere where I don't worry about being killed everytime I leave the house or inside my own house, which they say is the most dangerous place to be in Johannesburg. On that uplifting note, I plan on spending today exploring Belsize Park in the North of London as part of my quest to find the best place in London for us to settle in.

You know you're an expat living in London when...

• For the first time in 30 years you realise why kettle descaler exists.
• Scarves and gloves are not just fashion accessories anymore.
• You wonder why that girl on the bus is wearing a ton of make-up and jewelery but didn't bother getting changed out of her tracksuit.
• The cab driver knows more about the intra-party politics of the ruling political party in your home country than you do because he 'reads a lot in his breaks.'
• The rubbish man gives you excellent tips on how best to cook oysters (this one happened to a friend of mine!).
• You drive to a friend's house and just happen to pass Buckingham Palace on the way.

Liberty London

Yesterday I went shopping at Liberty. I believe that it could be the most beautiful department store in the world. From its mock-Tudor exterior to its vintage own brand fabrics, curving wooden staircases and delightful stock - I love it all!

Here are pictures of the outside of the store: 

 Here it is at night - so pretty...

 Here is one of their beautiful own brand fabrics. I love this so much I recently bought some to cover up a plain glass sideboard.

 For my most recent birthday my husband spoilt me with a ring made by Annina Vogel who sells her wonderful wares at Liberty. The ring has a scottish terrier in gold adorning it and is very similar to the necklace below. This is also one of her pieces. Many of her pieces are recreated out of antique or vintage jewellery pieces. My dog was once an antique brooch. I also love the staff at her counter - they are super-friendly and a little eccentric. When I went to get my ring re-sized the woman helping me asked me if I had named him yet. Today when I went to fetch it the gorgeously effervescent girl who helped me gushed about how much she loved the jewellery and she looked incredible wearing an intricate necklace on which many different charms were strung.
 
If I ever win the lottery you'll find me in those hallowed halls on Regent Street, arms breaking under the curiosities of wonderment I am about to buy! 

Whose afraid of the big black bag?

Only three living beings live in my house (excluding an array of houseplants), namely my husband, my dog and myself but every week when it is rubbish day it really scares me how much stuff gets thrown away. My local council offers two main recycling services. The one involves placing all paper, glass, metal and certain plastics into a bag separate from all other waste. The other involves recycling food waste only - they put all of it into a massive communal compost heap. Despite the fact that we partake in all this recycling, the speed at which waste is produced sometimes really scares me - especially when I consider that my husband is hardly ever home for meals. 

One contributing factor to this heap of garbage which I particularly hate is the notion of the expiry date. I understand that most foodstuffs become dangerous to eat once they've passed a certain date but I personally believe that the dates encourage a rampant wastage of food. These dates all too often seem to be way too conservative thereby encouraging people to throw away perfectly edible food in fear of keeling over frothing at the mouth with green food poisoning-induced foam. The other day I heard a shocking statistic that more than half of all food ends up being thrown away uneaten. I really hope that that number was calculated wrongly!

A contributing factor to all this waste is the price of food. In Peter Singer's book titled The Ethics of What We Eat he describes how chicken used to be a special treat reserved for Sunday family gatherings because it was so expensive. Today people think nothing of eating meat several times a day and chicken from places like KFC is cheaper than buying fresh fruit and vegetables. Recently there was talk in the British media of the possibility of putting a 'sin-tax' on junk food similar to that on alcohol and cigarettes in a bid to reduce obesity rates. While that would surely be hugely criticised as another nanny-state move, it wouldn't necessarily be such a bad idea.

One parting thought is the idea of how easy it is for companies to think a little more innovatively in order to reduce waste. An example of this is Innocent Fruit smoothies. The company recently removed the plastic ring pull in their cartons, thereby saving truckloads of plastic from being produced. Simple re-engineering with virtuous results. More companies need to come up with more things like this even if  only to impress customers like me!

Where to live in London Town

Since moving to London more than two years ago, my husband and I have lived in four very different parts of London. First was Canary Wharf. We didn't choose to live there but R's company (very kindly) paid for our accommodation for the first month. After that we moved to Chelsea and lived in a lower ground flat. (Lower ground is a euphemism for 'basement'.) We chose Chelsea for a number of reasons, including that we had friends living in the area and so had spent some time there in the past, knew it was fairly central and thought it would be a safe bet. To someone who grew up in the leafy green suburbs of Johannesburg (which has been described as the biggest man-made forest on earth) the griminess of many areas of London seemed a bit depressing.

I enjoyed wandering through the quaint streets of Chelsea but did find the area a bit above me. Membership to the local dog park cost £700 per year and that is excluding the days the park is off limits becuase it is used to house exhibitors cars for the Chelsea Flower Show. Luckily I had a very kind neighbour who regularly lent me her card. The actual people walking the dogs in the park were what you would expect if you paid £700 annually ie a bunch of Philippino housekeepers in between smatterings of awfully posh people. Many of these people were retirees which makes sense because anyone under 60 living in Chelsea probably has to work pretty damn hard to pay the rent. I was studying for a law degree and so would walk the dog during the day. There was also one radio celebrity guy. The politics in the dog park were also pretty unusual with certain people bitching to me about other people and / or other people's dogs. It was highly amusing but I did feel like an outsider and began to yearn to live in a place surrounded by at least some poeple who were more like me.

My husband and I explored some areas South of the river and thought Clapham might be a nice option, plus we'd be able to rent a bigger house there as rental prices are far lower then those in Chelsea. While exploring Clapham we stumbled upon Balham which is just South of Clapham, has a wonderful common and a nice suburban feel while not being too pricey. However, recently I have fallen a bit out of love with the area. Sometimes it seems a bit boring and too far from all the fun parts of London which are mostly north of the river. Also, because I don't know anyone here and its fairly quiet, it often feels a bit lonely - especially in the gloom of London Winter.

As we only rent and don't actually own any property we are free to move anywhere when our lease expires and so I am on the hunt again... So far parts of Islington near Angel seem appealing, as does Highgate which is even further North and a lot more affordable and suburban feeling than Angel. The search continues... Sigh...