Living in London is very attractive for friends. They come and visit - and are amazed at all kinds of things they find in my new home. Here are some of the things that, when I tell people about them, more often that not, find they didn't know before:

• people have vinegar on their chips
• everyone tries to buy a house as soon as they can
• some people grow figs in their gardens
• London to Paris takes 2 hours 20 minutes by train
• London has lots of usually really clean free of charge public toilets
• you can go shopping on a Sunday
• parking tickets are really really expensive
• the Shetland Islands are 12 hours on the boat from the mainland - that's as long as a bus ride from London to Aberdeen
• the sea is never more than 70 miles away
• when you order house wine you first say "house" and then "red" or "white"
• paper and cardboard cannot be recycled together
• beer is carbonated, whereas ale isn't
• flats/ houses are not measured in square meters but in bedrooms
• don't even try to find an electric socket in a bathroom
• the London tube does not run all night, not even on weekends
• on Christmas there are no trains at all
• the Thames has tides
• some houses and flats have no heating
• ever  heard that water pressure on the island is low? Very true!
• London has lots of foxes
• cream tea is not tea with cream, but tea with scones, clotted cream and jam