'phoning home - # 240

Our short visit to Southall, and tribute to India will soon end.

On the main shopping street you immediately notice the number of shops and small street tables set out for the convenient sale of low cost international phone cards. The destinations read like an early 20th century British schoolboy's thriller novel of "daring do" and evoke camel trains crossing vast deserts and bold young secret agents crossing the Khyber Pass. Today, all of these places are accessible by mobile phone and conversation is a way for astute traders to make money. The Indian community and IT/computing seem to be made for each other.

I was struck by the lady's combination of traditional dress and western jeans and fashionable block high heels.

The colourful metal shutters on the shop windows and the number of small private shops (as opposed to larger brand named chain stores) are more reminiscent of "far away" than the usual British High Street.