London to Jozi...

I spent 5 years in London. It is truely one of the maddest baddest places I have ever had the good fortune to experience. I am of course happy to be back in my native land of south africa but there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about the big smoke. I know there are so many south africans who've done the same thing, left the country, gone to london, either loved it or really hated it and then either decided to stay or return home. I have thought long and hard about it and neither place is really any better or any worse, just completely different. These are the top 5 things that I love about London and the top 5 things I love about being home:

London

1. Anonymity - the joy of being able to be anyone you want every day of your life. Nobody knows your history (nobody really cares). You can go days, weeks even months never bumping into anyone you know in London if you wanted to.

2. The music scene - from ipods on tubes to live gigs of the greatest bands on the planet, from music festivals to 3-storey virgin megastores, music in the UK rocks!

3. The bookshops - you can get any book imaginable everyday in so many different locations and you can have it immediately without having to wait like 2 weeks for it to be ordered and delivered.

4. The advertising - so much advertising, so much of it very clever and very humourous, and it changes on a daily basis so it never really gets old. Very stimulating.

5. The women - with over 7.5 million people in one city, the amount of women from all over the world converging in one place is just beautiful. Russian girls, french girls, italian girls, swedish girls, spanish girls, brazillian girls, and on and on. Everyday you see at least 30 absolute 'oh my god, have my children' belters.

Top 5 things I love about South Africa:

1. Exercise/Activity - I did hardly any exercise in London (apart from walking about 5 kms a day through the underground and around London) Here I play cricket, football, squash and tennis, something different every weekend. Great to compete in team sports, great to get the endorphins flowing.

2. Going to the bush - there is nothing quite as magical as sunsets in the african bush. Being one with nature, hanging with your mates, talking shit over a few lagers and feeling truely south african

3. Watching sport and braaing - even though the english are as obsessed about sport (especially football) nothing beats a warm summer's day, rugby or cricket on the TV, a whole bunch of friends and a braai to keep things social.

4. Cape Town - is there a more beautiful city than that one?

5. Eating out - Joburg has some of the best restaurants. The portions are always generous, the wine is always top drawer and really when it comes down to it they are all very affordable.

Two very different places but as South Africans I reckon we should take comfort from the fact that being in London has so many advantages and being home really makes you feel like you're part of something great. I loved my time in London and I now smile everyday I wake up to the sun shining.