Stirling and London revisited

I was back in the UK for one week. I stayed for three nights in Stirling where I caught up with friends and revisited my stomping grounds - the pubs Nicky Tams and No2 Baker Street, the cafe Beanscene and the University. It felt pretty much like I had never been away. After six years living in Stirling and only eight months back in Portugal everything remains so familiar. The biggest change was the pubs being now smoke-free. The law which bans smoking in enclosed public places kicked in in March 2006 just a short time after I left Scotland and was a welcoming measure which put public health above financial interests and individual needs. So whenever I approached a pub I was now struck by the sight of a few cigars hanging outside with customers attached to them. New way to meet people. But inside, it really feels lighter and better.
Then I headed to busy London where I stayed for another three nights. London is a fabulous city no matter how bad people will talk about it. It doesn't have the charm nor is as beautiful as other European capitals but it has such a pallette of smells and sights and just so much diversity in offer that only a cynical can loath it. I was stunned again spending long hours at Camden Lock Market just hanging around, tasting the ethnic food and absorbing all the colours, smells and little objects in shops and tents. Tate Gallery of Modern Art was excellent too. The main attraction was Carsten Holler's Unilever Series which consisted of a set of slide tubes which connected the second, third and fifth to the ground floor. Customers would collect their tickets (free) and slide down the tubes. I was awestruck by kids as young as possibly 6-7 years old going for it and wondered how my six year old nieces would approach the "art". I myself skipped it because the queue was way too long.
Other impressions on my "UK revisited" experience: The Observer Music Monthly's October edition was edited by Jarvis Cocker and was the best reading on music I did for a while even if it featured a five star review of the editor's new album. Joanna Newsom is being hailed as the new indie-pop fairy everywhere in the music press because of her new album "Ys" - I own the first one "Milky-Eyed Mender" which is just fine but this one is supposed to be much better. That syrupy statement by pop's answer to mosquito buzz, James Blunt, is still often playing on the radio - could this be the century's most popular tune so far? Paul McCartney is being accused of domestic violence - thus giving the otherwise forgettable "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" a new edge. I'm still delluded by that small circle which appears in the London map called the Dome. I know it is there somewhere but I always miss it. And Tony Blair is still in power.