• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result

Christmas In London

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Dec 20, 2010
in Retirement/Living
0
Christmas Pantomime In London
208
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Christopher Wren, Karl Marx, Stamp Duties, And Snow Flurries–Christmastime In London

“‘Just go through the archway on the left of the Cathedral Square, walk past the Christmas tree, cross the street, and you will be there,’ said Diane.

“It worked,” reports friend and Roving Correspondent Vivian Lewis.

“I hit the City of London yesterday to check out shopping beyond Westfield malls, including the outpost of Mammon by St. Paul’s Cathedral. Under the official name of One New Change, and the unofficial one of ‘Cheapside Mall,’ this is a cross-shaped set of passages between four glitzy glass towers connected only above the street level just past the Cathedral Christmas Tree across a street.

“Howling winds and snow flurries harried the few pre-Christmas shoppers in the mall’s wide corridors, which lack any cozy amenities like seats or a cafe where you can place your sugar daddy until his checkbook is required. But the passages do give you occasional startling juxtapositions of full views of Sir Christopher Wren’s cathedral masterpiece alongside yet another overpriced jewelry shop.

“Luckily there are some more down-market women’s clothing chains in the mix. While City men are rich and powerful, their female support staff are not overpaid and shop at The Gap, Monsoon, and Mango.

“On the other side of St. Paul’s you can glimpse another local house of worship, St. Vedast Alias Porter, an odd name for a saint. Why did Vedast require a pseudonym?

“Two comments. First, remember that the Brits pronounce ‘Mall’ to rhyme with ‘Hell.’ Second, if there was any doubt in your mind, Cheapside ain’t cheap. I await the opening next year of the Stratford Westfield East near my base at Mudchute Manor for serious shopping therapy.

“Despite my hesitation over pricing, I did buy some bright glittery trousers and a top for pre-Christmas parties, for a total outlay of GBP 19.90, which was not too excessive.

“Upon my return to Mudchute (that’s a real station on the DLR) I was shocked to discover that my broker, Fidelity, had just billed me for Stamp Duty on a transaction done on the London stock exchange before I left home. Stamp Duty brings out my Tea-Party instincts. We do not pay such iniquitous taxes when we are U.S. residents and citizens with American brokerage accounts run by Fidelity, which moreover is HQ’d in Boston, the city where our Revolution began. I expect to get my Stamp Duty back before July 4, 2011. Of course I invest internationally, being the editor of www.global-investing.com, but I do not expect to pay duty to the successors of George III.

“Because about an inch of snow has fallen on London since I bought my glad rags, I shall not be wearing them tonight at one of the pre-Christmas feasts one attends at this time of year. This one is taking place in the People’s Republic of Islington, a north London center of liberalism, something like the Upper West Side of Manhattan where I grew up.

“Last night, pre-snow, I met again the only remaining Latin American journalist who is a Marxist. He is a Briton called Gott, which may explain why he fell for Karl Marx’s version of history in the first place. One would be anti-clerical if one was called Gott. It’s a Yorkshire name.

“London is like that. Leftism is part of the traditions Britons relish, along with fattening Christmas foods like mince pies, Christmas pudding, roast turkey, bread sauce, and Brussels sprouts and parsnips. The latter appeal to me more than mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping as a side dish, but Marxism is positively anachronistic even in one who covers Latin America.

“The snow here does not bring out bevies of young men with shovels offering to remove the white stuff from your driveway, paths, and pavements. This is yet another result of an overgenerous welfare state. The youths are so well compensated for joblessness and being ineligible for any gainful employment that they do not even offer to shovel your snow…”

Kathleen Peddicord

Comments

Tags: 'Christmas'Vivian Lewis
Share83Tweet52
Previous Post

Christmas Donations For Fatima

Next Post

Christmas In Cuenca, Ecuador

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

Related Posts

Scenic sunset in Lisbon, Portugal.
Real Estate

How To Invest In Property 101: The Pitfalls You Should Avoid

by Lynn Mulvihill
January 18, 2021
0

Among the new trends we faced last summer in Ireland, a country home being snapped up by a foreign buyer...

Read more
Refreshing Cocktail at beach in Belize.

10 Reasons To Reinvent Your Life In Beautiful Belize And 9 Challenges

January 17, 2021
Beautiful tranquil beach sun rise in southern Belize.

Ask Yourself These Questions Before You Move To Belize

January 15, 2021
Beautiful Wooden pier view in Belize.

Living A Whole New Life In Belize

January 14, 2021
Perfect tropical paradise beach with palm trees and hammock 350x250

Most Frequently Asked (And Not So Crazy) Questions About Retiring Overseas

January 10, 2021
Family watching sunrise on beach.

Moving Overseas Will Affect Your Family But It Can Be For The Better

January 5, 2021
Senior couple walking on the beach.

The 2 Biggest Concerns Retirees Have Before Living Overseas

January 4, 2021
Next Post
Christmas parade in Cuenca Ecuador

Christmas In Cuenca, Ecuador

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

how to retire overseas

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2021

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS?

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately send you a free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE in style overseas. Each day you’ll learn about the best opportunities for international living, retiring overseas, offshore diversification and asset protection, and investing in real estate around the world.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.