On the other side of the scale, away from those neighborhoods that an English colleague said were for the "common" people (yes he actually said that out loud),is Marylebone. It's pronounced MAR-LEE-BONE, which I tried to explain to the Costa Ricans without success. "Just stop looking at the letters and listen to what I'm saying Mar-Lee-Bone."
It's exactly as my English colleague described: posh. I didn't expect any less from him, an interesting character given to superlatives. When he's not describing regular neighborhoods as "common" he's explaining how superior London is to New York or how much better the food is in London than, well, anywhere in the world. He's an expert. A strange concoction - half gay man and half Tory. Never knew you could be both. Smells like old money.
I was dressed in my finest: designer jeans, dress shoes, dress shirt, sweater, long trench coat. I like to think I blended in. I liked the name of this pub. Cheeky.
I was headed to a fancy restaurant for lunch - it's at the top of this building on the left, with the big windows. I was planning to celebrate my birthday in style and let the company foot the bill.
One last story about my colleague - according to him, the parks in London are the best in the world, clearly superior to NY. Of course, you have to have a key to get into most of them I countered. "Well of course, darling, you don't want to let the common people in, do you?"
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