ignorance is bliss

it's funny how little we knew about london before moving here. it would be reasonable to assume that we would do all the touristy things when we first got here. of course, in order to do that, we'd have to know what the tourist attractions are in the first place.

today, we briefly walked around oxford circus area. this would seem a perfectly normal thing to do, but the only reason we decided to do this was because we were asked: "you've been to oxford circus, right?" it was almost assumed that we had.

it was a very nice area, with lots of shops. and lots of people. we went on a tuesday afternoon, but it was still very busy with lots of pedestrian traffic. we finally saw an h&m and a topshop. the uk h&m prices are numerically less than those of canada, but when you convert it back to canadian dollars, it's actually more expensive. take, for example, a sundress - we've seen them in canada h&m for about $16, whereas in uk h&m, it costs £12.50. numerically, it's less, but in actuality, when you convert the uk h&m price back to canadian dollars, the sundress would cost about $23. this converting back to canadian dollars is inevitable until we start making the £ (that is, if we'll ever actually stop converting it back to the canadian dollar).

we went into marks & spencer, since we hadn't been to one yet. we were curious to see what it was like, since our only impressions were formed by the super old ones at fairview mall and scarborough town centre in the days of our childhood. it's definitely nicer now.

galen weston is apparently trying to model loblaws after the grocery stores in the uk. m+s is particularly scary. everything they sell - and we mean EVERYTHING - is store branded. and they sell an insane amount of things. they have store-branded sauces that would put pc's memories line to shame. we found about four or five different types of indian-inspired curry sauces alone. they even sell m+s branded beer, wine and liquor. and we're not talking a few bottles here and there, but an entire section. this doesn't even consider their many clothing lines, greeting cards and cakes, not to mention their finance division (m+s money). the other amazing thing is the ridiculously consistent design that's used throughout. despite everything being store brand, we've been told that m+s ranks among the more upscale grocery stores. we resisted the urge to buy everything (it all looked very good) and settled on a pack of tea biscuits (reduced fat!).

so we ended up strolling around oxford circus munching on tea biscuits from m+s. does it get any more british than that? save and except, we didn't have a spot of tea in our hands, with our pinkies up.