Football's Not Coming Home

So England are out of the World Cup. On the bright side, there were no penalty shoot-outs and nobody cried.

So what now for us England fans? If you're in London and want to carry on with the multi-national, global theme, then this summer offers quite a few opportunities to do just that.

So let's kick off with...

Brazil

Festival Brazil is a month-long festival at the Southbank Centre, bringing contemporary Brazilian culture to London.. It runs from June 11th to July 18th and these are a few of the highlights:

• Youth Orchestra of Bahia (July 7th, 7.30pm). From the same stable as the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, this is their first visit to London. Conducted by Ricardo Castro, the programme for the evening is "Music from the Americas" and includes Gershwin and Bernstein.

• A Woman's Eye on Brazil (July 9th, 7pm). Ana Maria Goncalves, Patricia Melo and Maria Valéria discuss Brazil and their work.

• Sócrates: Futebol and Brazil (July 18th, 5pm). Sócrates is a former captain of the Brazil football team who is now a major cultural commentator. Maybe he'll be giving his views on another World Cup Winning performance?

• Skylon Caipirinha Cocktail Masterclass (July 12th, 6.30pm). If all that literature and music sounds like too much hard work, just join "Master Mixologist" Zoran Peric to learn the secrets of the perfect Brazilian cocktail. Includes 2 drinks per person. Hic.

Getting in on the Act - Singing Along for England

The current bone of contention in England (OK, apart from the major occurrence of butterfingers) is that there is NO official World Cup England Song.

Most Official England Songs are beyond horrendous. Here's an example from 20 years ago:



Nevertheless, a few people have tried to put this 2010 omission right. The News of the World newspaper (misnomer if ever there was one) was in Trafalgar Square on Saturday, drumming up support for their single Cabanga (by Joe Public United):

 Are all lions called Leo? That could get complicated...

And what better to get us all in the mood than a quick conga round the back of Nelson's column and past the National Gallery?

Leo leads the Conga round the square

But the NOTW has competition. James Corden and Dizzee Rascal have recorded a re-work of a Tears for Fears song: 'Shout for England':



The NOTW didn't read the small print: if it's a #1 single you want, it's Simon Cowell you need. And guess what? "Shout for England" was #1 yesterday.

Never mind, eh Leo?

The Beautiful Game

The World Cup is all about preparation. A successful tournament boils down to more than the performances on the pitch. And I’m not talking about the players. Here in London, the general population has been gearing up for months:

• Need a new TV? No problem. Toshiba will sell you a new flat-screen, with the added incentive that you get it free if England win the World Cup!

• Planning a footie party? Then drop into Tesco, the “Official Supermarket” of the World Cup, who have a multitude of offers on BBQ food, beer and South African wine.

• Pizza Express, the darling of the English middle class, is in on the act too. 2-for-1 pizzas, whether it’s for football-and-pizza-take-out or no-football-eat-in.

If you’re more of a saver than a spender, fear not:

• Nationwide, the major England sponsor, are offering a 4-Year Football Bond, with a 0.5% bonus if England win in South Africa

So welcome to London. For the month or so, all Englishmen (and many women) will forego rational thought. Our British reserve and our stiff upper lip will desert us. We will rediscover patriotism, talk to strangers on the Tube and blub like babies whether Wayne Rooney scores or sees red.

The FIFA 2010 Football World Cup has teams from 32 countries. And London is most definitely the definition of a global city. So I’m going to put away my England underpants in 2010 and focus my attentions on the smaller, less well-represented nations:

• Where in London can Paraguayans watch Roque Santa Cruz and eat tapas?

• Where is London’s biggest Korean community?

• Can you eat Ghanaian food and watch them at football at the same time?

• Will Slovenia, Slovakia or Serbia make it through the group stages?

It'll be a blast!

As long as we don't go out on penalties. Again.

Travellers' Tales Festival: Discount at Destinations London

If you're thinking about going to the Travellers' Tales Festival from Feb 19th-21st in London, you might want to pop along to Destinations London at Earls Court this weekend.

There's a £25 discount available if you buy your Festival tickets at the Travellers' Tales Stand, AP12.

What's On in London - Travel Shows

It may be Awards Season in Hollywood, but here in London the Travel Show Season is about to kick off. So if you're in the mood for hanging out with other travellers, getting inspiration for that next trip or just seeing what's out there, read on.

Adventure Travel Live 

"A one-stop shop for anyone planning an off-the-beaten-track travel adventure"

Where: Royal Horticultural Halls, Victoria, London

When: Fri Jan 29th - Sun Jan 31st

Prices: £6 in advance/£10 on the door (under 16s go free)

After an absence in 2009, Adventure Travel is back with a new home, new sponsors and a new programme. Highlights include:

• An exhibition of winning images from the Travel Photographer of the Year competition
• Over 60 free talks, with travel luminaries such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Nomad Travel and STA Travel.
• On Sun 31st, Simon Calder's Travel Clinic on LBC 97.3 will be coming LIVE from Adventure Travel

The emphasis is on off-the-beaten track travel with a good mix of tour operators, gear manufacturers and publishers. So can Adventure Travel put itself back on the map in 2010?

For the tired exhibitors and the foot-sore visitors, it's only 4 sleeps from Adventure Travel until the next show:

Destinations London

"Where in the world do you want to go next...?"

Where: Earls Court, London
When: Thurs Feb 4th - Sun Feb 7th
Prices: £10 in advance (£5 late-night Thurs after 5pm)/£12 on the door (under 12s go free)

The matriarch of the travel show clan, Destinations pulls them through the doors every year. The format and the show itself are comfortably predictable, but no less interesting for it.

Destinations is divided into 8 "zones" (7 geographical, plus 1 for Adventure Travel). It's worth getting a map (thoughtfully provided by The Times, who sponsor the show) and sitting down with a cup of coffee to work out where you want to go and who you'd like to see.

Here's a snapshot of what's on:

• Wanderlust's Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition
• Meet the Experts theatre. Talks range from Going Solo to Travel Writing to Career Breaks to Sustainable Travel to "In conversation with..." chats with adventurers and explorers.
• World Entertainment Stage with performances from around the world

(Helpful hint: talks are VERY popular, so get to the theatre early to avoid disappointment)

It's a big show, so allow a decent amount of time. Late night Thurs can be fun, but by Sun pm everybody is usually a bit tired...

Destinations moves to Birmingham on March 5-7th.

If that's whetted your appetite, then you'll want to come along to the 2nd Annual Travellers Tales Festival at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Feb 19th-21st. Come back soon for more details on this!

Mexican Hot Sauce...Made in Devon

There are plenty of Mexican eating joints in London, but Wahaca is in a slightly different league. For a start, it's so cool that they don't take reservations. You just turn up and wait in line (outside, on the stairs or on a bench downstairs) until a table becomes available. We visited on a cold January Friday, so opted to go for early eats (5.30pm) and avoid the queues.

Wahaca is the brainchild of Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, who wanted to bring the tastes and flavours of Mexico to London.The restaurant styles itself as "market-style" with the ingredients all sourced as locally and ethically as possible.

The menu is notable for its Street Food section, with smaller dishes for sharing. There are also soups, salads and Platos Fuertes (bigger plates). As first-timers, we went for the Wahaca (Street Food) Selection:

• 3 Pork Pibil Tacos
• 3 Seasonal Vegetable Tacos
• 2 Huitlacoche Quesadillas
• 2 Herring Tostadas
• 2 Chicken Taquitos
• Green rice and black beans

Beer 'n' dips

Chicken Taquitos

 

Or was this the chicken taquitos?

The portions of each are small (think tapas-sized Tacos) but plenty for 2 reasonable hungry people.

If Tequila floats your boat, there are 12 different ones on the menu ("25ml servings. Try sipping not shooting"). For the tamer diner, there are also beers, cocktails and soft drinks.

If you're still hungry, or fancy something sweet, then the Churros y chocolate is the top-listed dessert: mexican doughnuts with chocolate sauce. Or there's vanilla ice-cream with homemade caramel sauce.

Strictly sweet. Strictly Delicious. Strictly Unnecessary

A word of warning: when we went to leave just after 7pm, the queue of hopeful diners exceeded 50 people. Although they looked very happy cradling their drinks (and willing people to finish up and leave), this is probably not a place to go if you're in a hurry and it's late.

That said, Wahaca could well become my new favourite Mexican restaurant!

Devon has quite the climate for chilli-growing