I was slightly disenfranchised to encounter Boost Juice handing out free samples at Bank tube the other day. Almost as disenfranchised as I was to go to Nando's and discover the menu is pretty much identical to the menu at home, expect they have 'lime and mango' as well as 'lemon and herb' in their non-spicey selection.

It's ironic though, really, that I'm disenfranchised, as it's franchises that's making me feel this way.

It ties together quite nicely with my overwhelming feeling of London: everything is so vaguely familiar but odd and foreign at the same time.

Buggers me no end that the main culture differences to be observed - by an Australian, at least - are nuances on fast food menus. Still, I suppose it's like a cultural rock; there's a sheen of familiarity that allows you to look and see the tiny things that set you apart. However I doubt you learn as much about a country's people by the fact they serve mayonnaise with their chips as a traveller in the 70s would have learnt when they stumbled across their first spotted dick.

I suppose it's all hitting home for me at the moment, because I'm living in this duality - I know the sights of London, know my way around, know some people; but at the same time I blatantly don't remember shit about most aspects of the country that I'm visiting, only the stuff that affected me while I was here.

It's altogether too easy to box away all your memories of people and places when you're back at home, filing them under 'London' and not advancing your ideas about them too much, so when you do return and find they too have grown as people, that's the largest shock you can expect to receive.

Insular bullshit with big words aside, I'm having a bang up time here. Working through my list of people to see as best I can, but also taking a bit of time out with Cara and watching DVDs. I'm loving the pace of the holiday, as I don't have any sights or tourist traps to visits - I feel slightly vagabond just schlepping around and meeting up with people. Gives the impression that if I were to move back here, I would have a social calendar to die for; but there's no denying I'm a passing novelty on my way through.

In the meantime, though, I'm just trying to not get underfoot at Cara's house and make the most of my limited time here, because bugger knows when I'll be back.

And heaven knows how much it will have changed-but-not-changed again by then, so I'd best get back out in the thick of it until next time.