patrícia furtado

Temporary page for the upcoming site for Häagen-Dazs’ Wimbledon hook-up this Summer. A full site, featuring more of the Sex and the City inspired characters, is coming up, so please check back soon! is already online, please check it out here!

This is the funny threat painted on a wall in Oxford Circus’ Topshop. And it sums up why I always end up spending so much money when I come to London.

As a recovering shopaholic, I learned to follow a simple rule to prevent impulse buying: Don’t buy it now (if you still really want it, come back tomorrow). And Lisbon is a small enough city for this to work.

But London is a different ball game. It’s so big that you know you’re not likely to return to that shop anytime soon, let alone the following day. True even if you live here, more so if you’re only in for a few days. So the local rule really is: Buy it now (or don’t buy it at all). And that is a lot of pressure for a trigger-happy shopper like me.

On the day I arrived, as soon as we set foot on Oxford St, my friend Catia and I were instantly sucked into a shop just to look around, and got out of there with matching leather bags and credit card receipts. We didn’t last 15 minutes! Three days later, my feet hurt from all the walking, my back is killing me from carrying so many shopping bags, and I’m wondering if it will all fit in the huge bag that, knowing myself only too well, I brought half empty from Lisbon.

Tomorrow, I will finally escape the spree. I’ll arrive home, open my oversized luggage and examine the bounty. And I’ll know that the writing on Topshop’s wall should have been: Buy it now (and regret it later - when your bank statement arrives).

Lots of new-school London cafes have seating by the huge windows. People often choose them to watch the world rush by while they chat, munch, nibble and sip.

Do they realise they are on display as well, like living adverts for the food they are eating, real mannequins on a shop window?

I was born in Lisbon, lived there most of my life and it’s my favourite place in the world. It’s quite a small city, pretty and charming, quirky and of a relaxed personality. And the light… Lisbon has the most beautiful sunshine, it’s the kind of light that makes you a happier person. Home was definitely Lisbon, that’s where my heart was.

But when I came to London for the first time, I fell in love. I was big and buzzy, filled with things to do, and places to see. And the skies might be grey all the time, but how colourful was the crowd under the clouds!… London was a little remix of the world, and a week wasn’t even enough to understand it.

So I came back, for three months. The love-affair only grew stronger. And when I got back, Lisbon seemed too small, too limited, too claustrofobic. And so I packed all my life and moved, not knowing if I would ever return. My heart was definitely in London, that was home now.

Living in London transformed me, opened my eyes and my mind, it was the greatest adventure ever. But eventually, I found out London is like an expensive mistress, who makes you spend all your money and energy just to keep up with her glamorous lifestyle. And Lisbon started conquering me again, slowly. I was older and wiser, ready to value the simple things like the easy living pace, the sun coming through your windows in the morning, having your friends and family close by. I gave in and packed all my life. Again.

But something happened when I was leaving. As the car was crossing the city one last time, on the way to the airport, I felt an overwhelming sadness. My heart was breaking in two, and half of it was being left behind.

Once a Londoner, always a Londoner? I don’t know. But after a few months in Lisbon, I always start to get itchy, and need to come back, even if only for a few days. And it always feels I’m coming home.

Camden Market was ravaged by huge fire. How sad!

Lately, I’ve been missing London a lot, so I booked a short trip at the end of the month, just to take in a bit of the city I called home only two years ago. And a visit to Camden was, of course, on my plans for the weekend.

I love the overload of colour and texture, the unfased crowd with outrageous clothes and over-the-top hairdos, and mostly, the never ending display of curious objects for me to lust after, and empty my pockets for. Yes, Camden is my shopping heaven, and I only escape coming out of there bankrupt because, at some point, the choice is so much it overwhelms and paralises me.

I do hesitate in going, now. London being London, when I arrive by the end of the month, it will be business as usual over there. But the fire will have left a scar too big to heal in so little time. A certain morbid curiosity and wishful thinking push me to go shopping in Camden anyway. But on the other hand, far from sight, far from the heart… If I don’t see it with my eyes, it’s like it never happened, right?

Update: Apparently these different new lights on Regent Street are sponsored by Nokia, and interact with the crowd down below. More information on this here.