My visits to Notting Hill have been wonderful. There are many people who speak French, Spanish and Italian and I get to practise speaking these languages which is incredibly useful and it is like I am abroad in these countries speaking those languages.

It is fascinating that Portobello Road in Notting Hill is named after a Porto Bello farm in the area which had taken its name from Porto Bello in Panama, captured by the British from the Spanish in 1739, as part of the war of Jenkins Ear.

To my mind the area is the epitome of successful multiculturalism as the people are willing to learn English and therefore integrate. Likewise there seems to be a strong appetite for the English there to learn to speak other languages too. This is a win win situation for a community and the same for keeping my linguistic brain going with the French, Spanish and Italian conversations I have.