Christmas Comparison, the UK vs SA
This time of the year, being so close to Christmas, I wake up in the morning an throw on my jeans, tshirt, jumper, socks and slippers and rush downstairs to put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea – making sure the central heating is working, on the way.
In South Africa I would have have thrown back the sheets – thrown on a pair of shorts and enjoyed a glass of ice cold orange juice on my stoep.
After warming up with my cup of tea, I hop on the tube with the other 8 million commuters working in London and surfaced somewhere in the middle of town with another cup of piping hot tea. I take a walk through Hyde Park, the sun rising behind me, warming my back and the backs of others as they jog and cycle towards the heart of London. How they cycle through the bitterly cold wind amazes me.
In SA driving to work would have been a breeze – does everyone really leave Gauteng in December? Where do they all go? I wish the traffic could be like this every day! I get to work, park underground, arrive at my desk via a lift and gaze through the window into a crystal clear summer’s morning.
Back in the UK I take half a day at the office and come home to finish up. That’s not a problem as I have an 8MB line running to my house and then a wireless network set up from there so my whole family can be online at the same time. The the whole thing costs me a monthly fee equivalent to a dinner for two. In fact technology is cheap – allowing me to run a home office.
In sunny SA I would have driven home in the evening and made my way to a long awaited braai to welcome the festive season in. The sun’s just beginning to go down, along with a few drinks! Right now I would be standing around the fire discussing, rugby, cricket and the finer points of lamb fillets.
Meanwhile back in the UK, it’s down to the pub with a few mates. Glad I’m taking the taxi, it’s dropping down to -1 tonight, after a pint I’ll be over the limit anyway. Besides you can’t park in London for less than a bank loan – and that’s if you’re prepared to fork out for the mandatory congestion charge. But I’m not complaining – the rest of London is a £1 bus ride away.
