Like home, but not

Sorry, that's a dumb title but I've got nothing else.

So I went to a party last night and it was so weird. It was like I was in Adelaide. Nothing about it felt like London other than the mandatory conversations you have with people from Australia when they are living here. Let me enlighten you with the standard set:

How long have you been over here for?
Where in OZ are you from?
Where are you living?
Where do you work?
How long are you staying?

Sometimes the odd social commentary about the weather and how hard it is to make friends with English people is thrown in for good measure. Now, I'm not criticising because it's normal to ask these questions. I too participate in these conversations, hell, I even ask some of the questions, but it makes me want to seriously cringe and perhaps perform some kind of head smacking when I catch myself doing it. I am in London, this unbelievable cosmopolitan city and I socialise with almost all Australians. This party I went to last night was like being in a weird Adelaide 90's time warp. I was talking to a guy I used to know in high school and his friend when I worked out that his friend and I knew the same people. He actually recognised me from a photo that one of his friends put on facebook. I moved to get away from this shit. To put things into perspective, it's not always like this and it is actually seriously difficult to make 'local' friends here. English people even admit this as most of their friends are from uni days rather than when they moved to London and made new ones. Why? I have no idea.

On the other hand, I shouldn't be so critical because how often do you make new friends in Australia or go in search of them? We too are cliquey amongst our circle of high school and uni buddies. It's always nice to make new friends but we are probably all guilty just liking the ones we have and not being bother to seek out or include others.

To give you an update on my enthusiasm, I've actually been 'visible' at work this week without selling my soul too much. It's seriously ridiculous that being paired up with someone makes it look like you talk more, are enthusiastic and are more ingrained in your work, but it's true. Because I have been walking around with my art director and not at my desk, it's perceived that I'm out there making advertising magic happen (please, please, please pick up on my sarcasm here). Ugh, so that's the vacuous world of advertising, or perhaps work politics in general. Now I feel depressed and cheap. But speaking of cheap, I did find an amazing Indian place to eat the other night. You know you've hit gold when there is a massive pink chandelier hanging amongst neon lighting. Plus, I have now moved up to ordering the hot version of dishes. Mmmm, spicy lamb bhuna.