These are bad times for just about every human being in the world but for an American who has been hankering to visit London it may be the time to make that visit. The pound had its biggest fall since 1992 and is falling, falling, falling and the dollar buys more and more. Policymakers are explicitly warning that England is in a recession and bleak forecasts are being predicted for the months, even the years ahead. It is true there are deep and sometimes delicious sales of everything everywhere. And I have read and heard serious reports in the press from all the leaders of England who make it clear they are now all in the same boots American leaders are wearing. There will be major changes in the systems and I doubt we will see anything like recent booming London again for a long time. The shopkeepers and restaurant owners and managers of hotels are very hopeful Americans will return now that prices are so much lower.

So far, depression has not taken over the streets in London or in country England. Despite the miserable problems, jobs disappearing and bank credit impossible for small businesses to get, Londoners are leaving the doom and gloom at home and aren’t taking it out onto the streets or into the stores or restaurants. Selfridges and TopShop, as examples, have plenty of women inspecting the sales and, although a few restaurants are closing or offering simpler fare, you can’t get into a trendy one without a reservation. 

Walking around all the neighborhoods with pretty parks and shops and sidewalk restaurants, I have been reminded that, more than any city, I know London has a population of people from all over the world living comfortably together — everyone seems to feel equal to everyone else — except for the small world of fashionistas and the elite that boasts attachment to the queen.

I have been as alert as can be but I see smiling faces up and down and around and about and I hear a lot of talk about art as this is London’s big art season and a lot of it can be seen free of any charge. Also I hear a lot of talk about how impossible it is to get seats to Kenneth Branagh in Ivanov, the rave of London, or to Oedipus — London loves Ralph Fiennes in this version of the play — or about Madonna’s divorce — or George Osborne’s problem (he is the shadow chancellor): Did he or did he not ask Oleg Deripaska (Russia’s richest oligarch) for a donation for the Conservative Party? England has miseries just as America has but people don’t seem to be taking them out for a walk and a coffee.

The new blooming restaurant is Bellamy’s. It is a younger, fresher and less expensive Marks Club type of place. In fact, some of the people once worked at Marks. I liked it a lot. I liked the food. I liked the service, the warmth. I liked the look of the place – it is not expecting an award – it is not overheated, not fancy, not decadent. I liked the prices, I liked the location – tucked away, privately, on Bruton Place. It is growing a good following. London has an abundance of good restaurants and the recent trend to one-course dining here started by women who want to wear a size 2 and men who want to look younger without a paunch  is making most of them more affordable. The lovely old Connaught Hotel has been redone with a sparkle and has opened a second bar that is sleekly anti-Connaught – perhaps Connaught devotees will not like it but I did. It is cool. Feeling cool at the Connaught is new and fun.