I’m very lucky to have a great social life. Having moved over here from New York, I sure miss my family and friends a hell of a lot. That is why having a reminder of the Land of the Free is always welcome, especially as it enables me to not be as homesick as I have been over the past few months. That is why when I went to a birthday party which was being held by a friend for their child’s first birthday that I started to feel more at ease with my new home town, despite the fact that I was surrounded by my best friends.

The reasons behind why I felt more at home were because my friend had decided to hire a magician. I had many magicians at my birthday parties when I was growing up, and had a lot of fun. For magician hire London is one of the most popular places in the United Kingdom to experience this because there are many budding magicians who are willing to show how fast they can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

The magician who I saw was amazing. I know that magicians are meant to entertain children but I was amazed at the number of tricks which were being performed in quick succession. He also had an assistant with him too. Not bad looking, either. The magician and his assistant also took part in the traditional ‘sawing the assistant in half'trick. Thankfully, they executed it well because the young group of people in the audience would have been horrified if this took a turn for the worst.

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I attended a rather intriguing gig the other night. To be honest, I only went out of morbid curiosity and because my friend had a free ticket. In the US, our celeb meltdowns are more like Charlie Sheen; shunned and disgraced. In the UK, yours play sell-out gigs at London venues and spark devotion among their legions of fans. I swear, the longer I live here the less I understand you Brits. First I find out that my best friend’s house is powered by red diesel suppliers, not the mains electricity and now I discover that a self-confessed junkie and thief is still adored by the music press and the British public!

Pete Doherty was, of course, the “gentleman” in question. Undoubtedly a great musical talent and I’d even go so far as to say he’s a lyrical genius. That first Libertines album was a real thing of beauty. His solo stuff has been more self indulgent (or as my gig chum said “so far up his own arse he could sing a duet with himself”) but he can, occasionally, put on a good show. It all depends what substances he’s taken just before going on stage, I suppose…

The recent gig that I attended was entertaining enough – but I have to admit to watching the crowd more than Pete. It was weird to see such levels of hero worship for someone who, if he couldn’t play a guitar, would probably have been slumped in the gutter outside the venue asking all the attendees for “20p for a cup of tea”. There was even a stage invasion, which struck me as something akin to a religious fervour, with grown men clamouring to touch St Peter. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d want to touch someone that scruffy, who looked like he’d just stepped off the set of Trainspotting, but there go you crazy Brits again!

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I’m lucky enough to know not one, not two, but three people who own their own art galleries. OK, most of them are about the size of a broom cupboard and located in arty parts of town like Elephant and Castle and Vauxhall, but from little acorns and all that. Besides, whenever they have openings I get an invite to the “free bar” parties; and a free bar is great no matter where in London you find it. Most of the time the attendees are people like me; young-ish with a passionate interest in the arts, but not much spare cash to throw in the direction of a struggling artist or a struggling gallery owner.

However, one of my friends scored a bit of a coup recently thanks to a colleague’s sister’s cousin – or some equally tortuous connection. This colleague’s sister’s cousin had spent a lot of time volunteering in Africa and had struck up a friendship with one of the next big things in indigenous African art. When he was looking for somewhere for his first London show, he asked her advice and, before she knew what was happening, my friend with the gallery found herself besieged with requests from the media and ladies who long for invites to the opening. I was sure I was going to get left off the guest list, but it appears she remembered that tiny portrait I bought from her shop for about £50 three years ago, because about a week before the big event an invitation dropped into my in-box.

Wow. That was a weird night. There were the usual grungy gallery crowd mixing with immaculately coiffured ladies clutching onto their Hermes handbags as if my friend had invited a bunch of loveable Cockney pickpockets into her gallery and not just a bunch of her friends. My highlight of the evening had to be when one of the moneyed “art lovers” cornered my coloured friend Sam, a waiter by day and sex store cashier at night, and asked him all about his upbringing in Africa. She didn’t even have the good sense to look embarrassed when Sam pointed her in the direction of the actual artist himself. Seems money can buy you a lot of things, but not class!

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Every now and then I can get a little home-sick for New York. Only occasionally, though, as most of the time London and my friends here keep me so busy I don’t have much chance to miss the Big Apple! Luckily, you guys in the UK are so obsessed with American “culture” that I can always find some way to imagine myself back in New York without ever leaving the Greater London area. Missing genuine American hamburgers? Why, I simply head to the diner behind the Palace Theatre that serves burgers, chilli dogs and glass bottles of Coca Cola with a straw. Hell, I only need to turn on my TV to watch some of my favourite shows from home. Do you guys make any TV programmes of your own? I’ve got more chance of finding a red diesel supplier who delivers to Camden than of finding an original idea on British telly…

Of course, there are plenty of areas where the UK does things better than the US, and that’s why I moved here in the first place. Your theatre is much less “jazz hands” and more about real acting; your museums don’t cater to the lowest common denominator; and your up-and-coming bands have a freshness that has been missing from New York clubs since the days of punk.

Every now and then, though, I think how nice it would be to go and see a New York band play live, to hear a familiar accent and to have something to talk to my friends at home about that they won’t mock as “limey”. London’s vast music scene means that on any given night there is usually some band or performer with a New York connection in town. When I get homesick, genre isn’t as important as where the musicians hail from; in fact I’m just as likely to go and see a classical music quartet or a death metal band!

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Living in London, you can’t really avoid the Olympics. There’s still a year to go until the main event but that hasn’t stopped the city and all its residents becoming obsessed with the Games. I don’t want to sound like a sore loser, seeing as London beat my home town of New York to the honour, but I do worry that they’re going to tire themselves out before the actual Olympics get started! There doesn’t seem to a be a week that goes by without the launch of some new sporting or cultural event themed around 2012.

At the moment the organisers are “testing” a lot of the venues by holding practice events, such as basketball, badminton, cycling and beach volleyball which is only serving to remind us locals how much our daily lives are going to be disrupted when the real thing comes around though I may have wandered past Horse Guards Parade where the beach volleyball practice competition was being held. Only in the interests of making sure London was thoroughly prepared, obviously, and not to check out the Brazilian girls in their volleyball outfits…

The cycling event went right past where I live at the moment, so I decided that it would be a good day to get out of the city and visit a friend of mine from New York who have settled in the north of England. Well, it would have been a great visit if their cottage hadn’t needed stocking up on the bare necessities, leading to us driving round and round looking for any red diesel Stoke could offer us! I think staying at home with the curtains shut while cyclists whizzed by my front window would actually have been more fun.

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Having only ever lived in cities, I really enjoy the hustle and bustle of the crowds, the packed tube trains, even the bad-tempered queue to get my morning coffee. The only time this changes is when the weather gets hot. Then cities can become unbearable, and tempers start to fray even more!

In New York, it’s always easy to escape the high rise buildings and the cramped streets, as you’re never really that far away from one of our parks. Central Park is the most obvious, and if you live or work in Midtown then you probably spend a lot of your time there. For those of you who’ve never been, the place is huge. So huge, you can easily forget you’re in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world. Find a sheltered corner where the buildings are hidden from view and you could be way out in the countryside…

Londoners do their parks and gardens differently. There are still loads of them, so if you need to chill out and get out of the “city” you’re never too far away from some patch of greenery. My friend who has a business doing house cleaning Surrey often drives back into the city at the end of a working day, just to go and spend a few hours lying by the Serpentine Lido in Hyde Park. Myself, I prefer Hampstead Heath, though only during the day! You can walk for miles here and not see any sign of civilisation. I usually only manage an hour or so before I start getting withdrawal symptoms, though, and have to head back to the crowds.

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There are thumping drums and lot of bass that sound in the night clubs of London. If it is ear bleeding dance or scratchy guitar sounds that one loves to swing one’s body to then London night clubs have a lot to offer. These types of clubs are open and extend their activities through the late hours of the night to the early hours of the next day. It is therefore suggested that people who plan for a night out clubbing must cater for an early morning stay over.

Some of the permanent and well known names in night clubs of London are the Ministry of Sound and the Fabric. Popular and regularly graced these clubs are the famed ones all over the world when it comes to night clubs. It is not only these big and exclusive night clubs that London has, there are the small and equally popular ones that are stashed or located between alleyways or exist even in basements. One of the night clubs, by name the Shepherd’s Bush, was previously an underground public toilet. One should not, however, go by these specifics or even the external looks of the night club locale or building to judge the class of the night club as such. There is even the fact that the door staffs of London night clubs gives a very forbearing or intimidating feeling. But that is only a facade that they put up and gaining entry to a night club is generally not very difficult unless it caters only for the exclusive clientele.

It is also to be borne in mind that London is a city that accepts and does change on a near daily basis. There is for sure some new and more interesting night club opening up every other day and information on these must be gathered before finalising one of choice for spending a relaxed and enjoyable night in London. So, select that sexy dress, wash you hair with Pantene, put on your party makeup and head out for a night of dancing.

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Recently I took my dad, who had just recovered from hair transplant surgery, out to dinner and we went to the Agriturismo La Brocca. It was recommended to by a good friend of mine. Here is what I thought of the place and its food.

Agriturismo La Brocca is a n award winning restaurant which is family owned with sibling Carla Di Crescenzo being the manager. You will find quality food here with modest pricing.

The La Brocca restaurant is in a manor that is over 150 years old and which is beautifully surrounded by trees and flowers. It has a beautiful view too. From this restuarant you will have a beautiful view of the Sangro Valley which helps to make your meal a peaceful one.

The best thing about this restaurant is the homely feeling in it. You will never feel like eating in a restaurant in La Brocca. Rather you will feel that you are a guest at Carla’s home and she will be with you whenever she can.

This restaurant runs with some basic principles and Carla is very strict about following these. The most mentionable thing about the food is nothing in this restaurant is grown outside or bought from outside. The minor purchases from outside are also done very strictly. The fresh cheese of La Brocca is made daily. This is the freshest cheese you will ever find unless you eat from the factory. The Maurizio’s grill realm will make you feel jealous if you are a BBQ fan.

If you want quality without any pretentious environment, La Brocca is the place for you!

&nb

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Even the travel agents I’ve been to in London are ten times better than the ones in New York. I recently went into an independent agent just off Kensington High Street and the advisor showed me great Florida villas to rent at half the prices US websites and agents have shown me in the past. I’m not sure as to why exactly that is, but I was really grateful as I’d been planning a trip to Florida with a few friends of mine. She even recommended a few other websites like ‘James Villas'I could try for renting villas abroad which I found amazing as it would take business away from her. In reality she was just selling herself really well and making sure I would remember her in the future.

That’s why I love London! In New York I always get the hard sell from travel agents and other retail outlets. They make nice with you first and their customer service is considered pretty high, but it’s all a mass illusion designed to make you spend as many dollars as possible with them. Over here at least whilst the service on the surface isn’t the same, I get more facts about the product I’m buying or the services I want. Thanks to London I have an awesome trip to Florida planned for half the price I was expecting it to cost me!

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Some of the pubs stop serving drinks after 11pm and the tube, the commuting lifeline of London, stops after 12 am. But there are pubs that take off from here. These pubs are available in various tastes and have something to offer to people from all walks of life. You will find cabaret clubs to chic rave clubs, which make you want to learn pole dance, catering loud dance music and strobe lights.

Many of the nightlife centers of London have had an illicit beginning. Most of these have been transformed from warehouses. There are areas of London where you can hang out at night. The West Central offers a great nightlife. You can pay a visit to the theater-land at Piccadilly and the fashionable Soho, Mayfair and Notting Hill.

If you are put up in north London then you can head for Camden and Brixton that offer great clubs. In the North-east of the city there is Shoreditch. This area is becoming a growing hub for those who enjoy wine bars and minimalistic settings.

If you are new to the city of London then you can make use of the internet to spot some of the great drinking areas of the city. However, you should know that there are many of those pubs that are exorbitantly priced. You need to be really rich and famous to pay a visit there. You should keep such places at bay. There are many night pubs in London that are the converted warehouse that serve quality drinks and entertainment to the common man.

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