Day 39: Dear, oh dear

Everyone is complaining about how fast the prices are increasing. The official inflation figure is about 1-2%, but independent experts estimate it to be 15-20. Meat, the staple food, costs twice as much now in supermarkets as it did six months ago, partly due to disputes with the farmers. No wonder Argentinians, whose salaries are static, are so fed up.

For someone like me thinking in sterling, I have found the city cheap in most things, especially after the shock of how expensive Brazil was. Here is a selection of prices (all in pounds - how inconsiderate of them not to put a pound sign on this keyboard!):

subway (Tube) ride: 17p
sliced loaf: 1 pound
haircut: 6
cinema: 2.50
two-course meal with wine: 15
two months gym memship: 80
typical 15-min taxi ride: 2
pair of trainers: 50
bag of dry cleaning: 2.50
pre-pay mobile phone: 35

THING I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY: UFOs are called OVNIs