Deletcations

London is more beautiful than ever. There is smoke control, and many of the public and private buildings have been cleaned so that one gets a feeling of what the city must have looked like when new. Physically, life is so much easier here than in New York—no solid walls of people to battle for street space and even the crowded subways are peaceful compared to ours. It is possible to walk safely in streets and parks, and small children, like my grandson, can come home from the Cub Scouts by themselves at nine o’clock at night. After New York, where all commercial life that affects the consumer, such as shopping and services, takes place in a small number of blocks, London is immensely diffuse. The number of shops, big and small, is simply huge and it is hard to know where to buy anything. Prices are far less standardized than in America; whereas our sheets and towels cost the same everywhere, in London it pays to shop for price.

The West End shows no traces of the war, but in the eastern parts of the city you see a great deal of new building and parking places made out of blitzed-out spaces. Cheap food is much, much worse than in America and expensive food much better in flavor and much better served. None of the English would put up with the nonsense dished out by our waiters. Homecooked food also tastes much better. It is the old story of different soils and climates and fewer chemical adulterations to both growing and processed food. The turkeys and chickens are a revelation, and so are the Brussels sprouts and the cauliflower, which here are worth eating. London restaurants are as cosmopolitan as New York ones; the good English ones, such as Rule’s in Maiden Lane, cannot be beat for game and roast beef, sweetbreads and beef and kidney pies.

NH

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Nika Hazelton

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London is more beautiful than ever. There is smoke control, and many of the public and private buildings have been cleaned so that one gets a feeling of what the city must have looked like when new. Physically, life is so much easier here than in New York—no solid walls of people to battle for street space and even the crowded subways are peaceful compared to ours. It is possible to walk safely in streets and parks, and small children, like my grandson, can come home from the Cub Scouts by themselves at nine o’clock at night. After New York, where all commercial life that affects the consumer, such as shopping and services, takes place in a small number of blocks, London is immensely diffuse. The number of shops, big and small, is simply huge and it is hard to know where to buy anything. Prices are far less standardized than in America; whereas our sheets and towels cost the same everywhere, in London it pays to shop for price.

The West End shows no traces of the war, but in the eastern parts of the city you see a great deal of new building and parking places made out of blitzed-out spaces. Cheap food is much, much worse than in America and expensive food much better in flavor and much better served. None of the English would put up with the nonsense dished out by our waiters. Homecooked food also tastes much better. It is the old story of different soils and climates and fewer chemical adulterations to both growing and processed food. The turkeys and chickens are a revelation, and so are the Brussels sprouts and the cauliflower, which here are worth eating. London restaurants are as cosmopolitan as New York ones; the good English ones, such as Rule’s in Maiden Lane, cannot be beat for game and roast beef, sweetbreads and beef and kidney pies.