THE year 2008 is definitely good for London as far as publicity is concerned. We open the year with a very laughable Hollywood movie scene starring none other than star Nicolas Cage who tries to open the left side door of a car in London in a getaway chase only to find out that the driver’s side is to the right. All in all, the peculiarity of driving in London is highlighted in the movie. And this is what made the city so attractive to tourists all over the world.

Another interesting update about London this year is their preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. Even though the 2008 Olympic Games is yet to unfold this summer in Beijing, Londoners are already excited that their city is host of the Olympics next to the 2008 one in Beijing, China. In fact, the mayor of London confined at his very fine quarters which is one of the most unique architectural pieces in the world, the London City Hall, is now spearheading a massive campaign to help finance the 2012 Olympic Games such as advertising exchange deals of major consumer and IT products. Even holding of daily lotteries from now up to 2012 just to raise funds is being contemplated already. Another preparation that they have is choosing Aldershot as the major venue for the games. Aldershot, a British Royal Army base, has all the sports facilities with Olympic standards such as the swimming pool, a running track and a hockey pitch. But the reason to choose Aldershot is more of a psychological one. Coaches of Team Great Britain want to instill their athletes that their discipline and dedication to their respective sport is comparable with soldiers from the British Royal Army.

But let’s go back to basics first. After settling in your hotel room, what does a typical foreign tourist in London need? It is food of course. And there is no such thing as London cuisine. Everything is generically Western. So you can have restaurants of choice. But the trend right now in London restaurants is to have the Mediterranean diet. If North America has the South Beach diet and Atkins diet, then London has the Mediterranean diet. Of course, London is nowhere close to the Mediterranean, it is not even a coastal city, and the only body of water you can see from London is River Thames. However, Mediterranean diet simply consists of anything that is sautéed in olive oil (olive is a product of the Mediterranean region) and they mostly consist of seafood as well as fruits and vegetables.

Now let’s go now on updates in the metallurgical business. Rio Tinto is aggressively pushing for profits this year due largely from earnings in its overseas operations. Rio Tinto’s ore production mainly comes from China and Australia. From these facts alone, we can deduce that London is a very nice place to visit in 2008.