rubbish, and wine and mince meat pie, oh my

So it is now our third day here in London. What I enjoy doing is reveling in the many subtle differences between this country and our own. On the way from Heathrow we had a Polish driver who claimed that the few Americans he met were far friendlier than Londoners. Luckily, in our experience this was far from true. We found all our contacts with the British to be friendly and cordial.
In fact, a family friend's friend invited us over to dinner with them all. We had a meal which I have imagined as a true Italian meal. We had no less than 5 courses, 3 types of wine (and many more bottles), with at least half hour period of leisure between each one. We also got introduced to mince mea pie and a little British tradition of crackers which are not food but little party wrappers that you pull apart with a loud crack. Inside are little presents, jokes, and paper hats.
Going back to the beginning: we arrived around 10 AM London time after a fairly pleasant flight (or as pleasant 9 hours in cramped seat can be) through the night. The city greeted us with weather the Scottish like to call 'dreak.' It rained all Christmas day. We fought to stay awake in intervening hours, going to evensong in the Westminster Abbey (built in 1060!), and then walking down the equivalent of Capital hill, Whitehall, until we reached Big Ben and Eye of London along the Thames. On the walk home I felt I was going to fall asleep walking in rain and cold! I guess going 24 hours with 3 hours of sleep doesnt work for me.
Since then, we have gone to see the changing of the Guard at Buckingham-Pretty much a nonevent except for the absolutely huge and gorgeous horses the policemen ride about ot keep order in the crowds. Today, we saw the Victoria and Albert museum, a giant collection of 3d art objects with more than 12 miles of corridors filled! Also today we went to the London Museum which is, as they say, the greatest collection stolen treasure in the world, containing among other amazing treasures the Rossetta Stones and the original sculptures of the Parthenon. Tomorrow morning we leave already heading for our true destination: Hindustan.
My favorite things from London: they call it 'rubbish' instead of trash, they say 'mind the gap' on the subway, they drive smart cars, all the major intersections have signs on the ground saying 'look left' or 'look right' so us silly tourists from the other side of the road don't step into traffic, people's general friendliness, and of course the accents.
My dislikes from London: the constant frigid grey weather, everything costs money and twice as much in the US (including cup of water .90 p), constant crowds everywhere worse than NY, the tubes close randomly on boxing day leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere.

rubbish, and wine and mince meat pie, oh my

London, United Kingdom