In our building a large percentage of the residents come from the Middle East. London is the other Mecca, if you will, for well-heeled people from that part of the world. Everyone wants a place here, even if they only visit once or twice a year.
A big attraction in town is Harrod's. For that reason, a flat near the store is particularly prized. A Jordanian friend who has one there told us his wife "does not go to London, she goes to Harrod's."
The store was founded in London in 1834 and was British-owned until 1985, when it was bought by Mohamed Al-Fayed, an Egyptian. He sold it this year to the Qatari royal family for 1.5 billion pounds.
British friends tell me they won't shop there anymore because it has become "vulgar." Al-Fayed certainly made some tasteless additions to the store: a memorial to his son Dodi and Princess Diana was installed on the lower floor (crypt-like), and not satisfied with that, he erected larger-than-life statues of them near menswear, not far from a wax figure of himself.
Al-Fayed also lost the royal patronage seals that had given the store a certain cache almost since it was founded. People liked the idea of buying their Christmas cakes and table linens in the same place as the Queen. Al-Fayed accused Prince Philip of having Dodi and Diana murdered, which not surprisingly caused the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen, the late Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales to take their patronage elsewhere. No royals have bought anything at Harrod's since 1997, the year Dodi and Diana died.
My guests always want to go there, which is the only time I do anymore. This is a marked change in behavior from when I was a visitor rather than a resident of London.
When we first brought our daughters here as little girls, Harrod's was a destination, along with the Tower of London and Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. They loved the toy department, of course, and also had a good time looking at the fabulous evening dresses upstairs and the fancifully decorated cakes in the food halls. At that time there were cases of them. Now there are only few.
When we lived in Vienna several years ago, a friend and I came here for a weekend of shopping. It was January and sale time. Compared to staid Vienna, London had everything, including Harrod's. We arrived at the store when it opened and did not leave for eight hours. With 330 departments and over one million square feet of selling space, we had a lot to cover. When we got hungry, we chose from among 28 restaurants.
Fast forward to being a resident of London for ten years and you find me only grudgingly accompanying guests who want to go to there. I admit it is sometimes worth it, though, just to see the astonished looks on their faces when they encounter the Dodi and Diana memorial adjacent to the twin sphinxes with eternal flames.
top photo: luxist.com
If I had waited a few days to write my last post (Morning Minefield, May 30), I could have added a few more things for all of us to worry about.
CNN is spending the week looking at various toxins around us and has also provided a list of "dirty" and "clean" vegetables. If you are munching on a non-organic celery stick right now, you could be in danger. Those pesticides don't wash off easily.
Several years ago we were invited to dinner at the home of a British journalist and his wife. At one point the wife said, "You Americans think if you jog every day, swallow lots of vitamins and are careful about what you eat, you will never die. Guess what? You'll die anyway."
Even though I stiffen when any sentence begins with "You Americans" and thought our hostess was generally full of herself, I never forgot what she said. I find myself thinking of it each time we are cautioned to stop doing this or using that.
I'm schizophrenic about how I react to all the yellow and red lights that are constantly flashing in our lives. I want to know about the dangers but only take a few of them seriously enough to change my habits.
We don't smoke and don't like to be around the second-hand stuff. It makes sense that this habit is not healthy.
Ever since taking an environmental course in university years ago, I have been careful about the water I drink. There have been studies that claim city water is as clean or cleaner than bottled water, but if you turn on the tap and smell chlorine and the water has a metallic or oily aftertaste, it probably isn't as pure as a bottle of Panna. I am more aware of drinking out of plastic now (possible BPA) but still do it.
Make-up and perfumes may contain toxins but I'm not giving them up or changing brands. I will always be ready to try the latest anti-aging cream or long-lasting lipstick, and I loved it when I heard one of my daughters say, "That perfume reminds me of Mom when we are in Italy."
I stay away from artificial sweeteners and diet drinks on the theory that if I am going to eat or drink something sweet, natural sugar might be better than pure chemicals.
We don't have artificial air fresheners and try to use "green" cleaning products (except laundry detergent, which is the same one my mother used).
We have non-stick pans but got rid of the Teflon because it scratches off if you don't use the right utensils (and my husband doesn't). Digesting it probably isn't good for us.
We have a Mediterranean diet, but should eat even more fish.
I worry about electro-magnetic fields now and then, but we still have cordless phones, wi-fi, etc. Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN says he always uses headsets with his cell phone, and I've been thinking about doing that for long conversations. Maybe we all should. That seems like a reasonable precaution against possible future brain tumors.
Let's do what makes sense to us and retain our senses of humor about jumping through another hurdle whenever a new report comes out. Keep in mind those studies can soon reverse themselves, as they did regarding vitamin E, selenium, hormones, statin drugs, sunscreen, to name a few.
The healthiest approach to the perils of life came from a friend commenting on the last post: "Look at it this way, all of those terrible things are making our immune systems better little warriors."
Or as another friends says, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
