New York vs. London

Central Park & Hyde Park, subways & tubes,  The Rockefeller Christmas Tree & Winter Wonderland, The Empire State building &... and what’s London’s comparison? The Shard perhaps…?!

For the past two days as I wandered the streets of New York completely awe inspired I couldn’t help but compare it to London. This blog is by no means objective, having lived in London for six years and visited New York for just two days but even in that short (and rather cold!) visit I discovered so many reasons to love The Big Apple as much as The Big Smoke.

Transport

Yellow taxis outside New York's Grand Central Station

For everyone’s complaining Transport for London isn’t too bad, the underground is easy enough and the buses take you where you need to go. I had no idea how I was going to navigate the NYC subway system but luckily the friend I was staying with gave me step by step directions. Having downloaded the NYC subway app to my iPhone (I have the London underground app on there too of course) I counted down the stations on route.

Even travelling into the centre of Manhattan at peak commuter time I was nicely surprised at how calm everything was – a far cry from watching trains roll past unable to squeeze on to one with all the London commuters. The trains and stations seemed much older and more rickety though, surprising as they were built forty years after London’s underground opened.

Morning commute in London at Waterloo Station

In general I was struck by the quietness of New York, from the films and TV shows I had imagined a loud, noisy, congested city with the iconic yellow taxis beeping, traffic jams, basically just a lot of mayhem, but the roads are so much calmer than London's with our black cabs and red buses rushing from A to B.

Taking the bus through Brooklyn at 8:30am however ensured that I didn’t go away with a completely rose tinted view of the NYC Transport system. Here the all too familiar scene of cramming a few too many people into a small space reminded me of my morning commute in London catching the big red bus from Waterloo, hoping to be at the front of the well ordered queue to ensure a seat but more often than not running to jump on just before it pulls away. 

As we meandered through Down Town Brooklyn and the crowds dispersed the bus driver was so friendly, chatting away; eager to give me tips for my sightseeing.I don’t think I ever spoke to the bus driver of the 243 that I took every day to work for the past 2 years.

Cupcakes

Magnolia Bakery in New York

Being a big fan of both cupcakes and of Sex and the City, I couldn’t come to New York without a visit to Magnolia Bakery (Carrie and the girls’ favourite in the show.) The branch on the corner of 49^th and 6^th was a welcome treat after the awesome views from Top of the Rock. The quaint set-up and relaxed atmosphere drew me in as I ordered my red velvet cupcake.

Now don’t get me wrong, it was good but London’s Hummingbird Bakery with its trendy demeanour and delicious choices of cake does make a better red velvet, I think it’s all down to the cream cheese icing...

Park Life

Sunset on London's Clapham Common

I love London’s parks; wandering past the deer in Richmond Park, admiring the views from Primrose Hill, walking though Clapham Common on a crisp Autumnal day, picnicing in Green Park on my birthday, the list goes on…

The only park I had time to visit in New York was Central Park. 

My first glimpse of it was from the Top of the Rockefeller as I saw New York stretched out ahead of me and the very straight rectangular green space etched in to the heart of the city. 

Arial view of New York's Central Park

A very different view to that of Hyde Park, which can be seen beautifully from Galvin at Windows restaurant at the top of The Hilton on Park Lane, with its more fluid shape, leading to other Royal Parks. 

Hyde Park has The Serpentine, Central Park The Lake. Both have the beauty of the nature surrounded by the hustle of the big city. In Hyde Park it’s easy to forget you’re in the middle of the capital city; at its heart not many buildings can be seen and the buzz of the traffic is reduced to a gentle dim. In Central Park with the skyscrapers rising above the trees, which were quickly losing their leaves for winter, there is no escaping the fact you’re in the middle of a huge metropolitan city; but would you want to..?

Christmas

Winter Wonderland in London

Leaving London in November I missed one of my favourite festive activities; Winter Wonderland. Hyde Park is transformed into, quite literally, a winter wonderland for six weeks every year. There’s fairground rides, German market stores, mulled wine, ice skating and my favourite; a mini London Eye giving a great view of the city from the warm little capsules. To me Christmas isn’t Christmas without wandering around Wonderland with a cup of mulled wine on a crisp winter’s evening. 

New York's famous Christmas tree and ice-skating rink

To New Yorkers Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the 80ft Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Centre.

I visited the Rockefeller on my first day in New York and was a little disappointed to find the tree not quite ready and the ice rink not quite open. Luckily it was that very night that the lights were being switched on so the next day after a long day of sightseeing I headed back to the centre of town to see for myself the world-famous tree. In order to get the true experience I had a coffee (no mulled wine to be seen…) while I waited for it to get dark and wow am I pleased I did. The 45,000 lights were truly incredible and the whole scene reminded me of so many movies. A truly different scale to Winter Wonderland, but both absolutely wonderful in getting everyone into the festive spirit.

For more info on New York read my Top Picks blog.

Kampala vs. London

With just over a week to go until the end of my VSO placement I have been reflecting upon my time here and all the things I’ll miss when I leave Uganda and all the things I’m looking forward to at home.

I am so excited to meet my new baby niece, Ella. Emily & Ian have sent me lots of photos and she is gorgeous; I can’t wait to give her a big cuddle from her Aunty Al. Seeing my family and lovely friends is also at the top of my ‘things I’m looking forward to’ list.

Mama FM colleagues


However at the top of my ‘things I’m going to miss’ list is all my lovely friends, colleagues and neighbours here. It’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to so many inspiring people. I will miss everyone a lot!

Food and drinks. Ah how I miss Walkers Salt & Vinegar crisps (although I write this having just devoured a pack – thanks for the parcel Fran!!) As for eating out I’m spoilt for choice of restaurants in Kampala but unfortunately no Vietnamese, my favourite. I think I’ll be having lots of lunches in Pho when I get back! I’m also looking forward to turning on the tap and getting a glass of water. Here I boil and filter my water and even though I’m getting used to the chalky taste it is getting a bit tedious

Milk. Fresh, cold milk. I buy the longlife milk here but it expires pretty quickly once it’s opened. I do have a fridge but given all the power cuts it’s not very reliable! I can only have white coffee in the mornings at work because by the afternoon the milk has gone off. In fact to have coffee at all Anna and I have to bring in our own coffee, milk, sugar, mugs and even our own kettle! I’m so looking forward to rocking up to the office and finding a pot of coffee simmering away, milk in the fridge, sugar in the jar and even lots of herbal teas for detox days.



Anna & I at work



Talking about the office this is a sad fact to admit but I am looking forward to getting back to the world of Microsoft Outlook. Looking in someone’s calendar, arranging a meeting and knowing they will turn up and on time seems like such a luxury. And emails  – how I miss emails! To communicate in the office here a memo is written, stamped (this is a very important step) and then physically passed round the office. It is then pinned to the notice board with ‘NEW’ scrawled across it in big red letters. There are scores of ‘NEW’ memos on that board!  UMWA only has one email address for the whole organisation. For those of us who have to/want to communicate via email we use our personal account which doesn’t seem very professional- especially when communicating with donors... Other luxuries such as a phone and printer are missing here. It will actually feel like a treat to pick up my phone, with my direct line and make a call from my desk without having to borrow the one organisation phone and worry about running out of air time half way through the call.

I am looking forward to not being as reliant upon my laptop. I use it all day for work as there are not enough computers. Having said that it is great in meetings to take notes and quickly look something up or just to carry on working while waiting for people to turn up. My laptop is my main method of communication with everyone at home (what did we do before the days of Face Book and Skype....?) It is also my means of watching TV. Most of us Muzungus have brought external hard drives full of films and TV series (Thanks Kevin!) that we swap. It’s great to be able to watch a film or an episode of Mad Men on a night in but I am looking forward to turning on the TV. I miss watching the news in the morning as I’m getting ready for work.

"Welcome Home Alyrene-a"

I will very much miss my journey to/from work. Every morning to be greeted with big smiles from Betty and the children is a great start to the day. And there’s nothing better than after a bad day (or a good day for that matter) to be greeted by the gorgeous children running up the road, fighting over who will be the first to get a cuddle from Alyrene-a. There is a lovely culture to welcome everyone back at the end of the day so passing the small houses on the way home and hearing ‘welcome back’ is a far cry from rushing through the crowds anonymously in London. Another great saying they use all the time here is ‘well done’. ‘well done’ for getting up ‘well done’ for getting to work, ‘well done’ for everything!

My working hours here are very relaxed. Anna and I aim to leave the house at about 9am (I am usually late....!) But regardless of how early or late we are we are still always the first in our little office. It’s such a luxury to be able to come home, shower, change, chill out and still meet friends later in town for dinner or drinks. I think it will take me a while to get used to rushing out straight from work, trekking across London and still always arriving at the pub and greeting my mates with “I’m sorry I’m late... again.” So even though ‘African Time’ can get frustrating, I’m a big fan of it!

Walter's Boda

My next point is a bit contradictory. I am really looking forward to getting back to a decent public transport system. Being able to hop on a tube or bus or just walk across town without any pre-planning. Here my schedule is often determined by Walter and on the rare occasions he’s not working we are stuck in Kisaasi. But I will miss being on a bike every day. I love it! And although I do sometimes have a snooze on the way home the journey back from a night out is always as much fun as the night it’s self. One of the first things I was taught in Luganda was ‘mpola mpola’ which means 'slowly slowly' and we were told to say this to all boda drivers but I much prefer ‘speedy speedy.’

En route to Queen Elizabeth National Park



Because of the lack of reliable public transport I have had some great road trips at weekends. It’s easier to hire a minibus than attempt to get around on the matatus. Hiring your own transport has the added bonus of being able to stop en-route. One of the most beautiful viewpoints was heading from Queen Elizabeth National Park to Lake Bunyonyi at Easter, looking out over the vast African savannah with the sun beating down – just gorgeous.



Cassia Lodge



I’ll miss weekends in Kampala too. So long as the sun is shining we spend our weekends chilling at the pool. Most of the hotels charge a small fee for use of the pool/gym (some of them charge a large fee but we avoid those!) One of the very best is Cassia Lodge. It’s about a 40min boda ride away but the views across Lake Victoria are always worth it. Not sure sunbathing on Clapham Common will quite match it, but hey I’m looking forward to that too...

One thing Clapham does have that Kampala lacks is street lights. I miss light! It will be so nice to go back to long summer evenings rather than it getting dark by 7pm every day.



Another thing London has over Kampala is hundreds of shops to choose from but I’m really going to miss shopping sprees here. Two great girls have set up a fab initiative called Fashion Corps. They trawl through the markets for all the hidden gems and host parties once a month selling the goodies. I love leaving Nina and Brooke to do my shopping for me, I just hope I’ve got enough luggage space to bring it all back....

So just six months away. So many amazing memories and so much I’ll miss but also so much to look forward to.