I hated dinner parties. But I decided to give them another  _ because I'm in London. And my friend Mallery invited me. And because dinner parties in London are very different from those in New York, "I'm having a dinner party" means: "I'm booking a table for 12 at a restaurant and we'll be sharing the cheque evenly  , no matter what you eat." In Manhattan there is always someone who leaves before the bill arrives. They'll throw down cash, half of what they owe, and then people like me, who don't drink, end up paying even more. But if you try to use the same trick, the hostess will shout: "Where are you going ?" And I cannot say I have somewhere to go because everyone knows I have nowhere to go.          But in London, dinner parties are in people's homes. Not only that, the guests are an interesting mix. The last time I went to one, the guests were from France, India, Denmark and Nigeria; it was like a gathering at the United Nations. In New York, the mix is less striking. It's like a gathering at Bloomingdatle's, a well-known department store.          For New Yorkers, talking about other parts of the world means Brooklyn and Queens in New York. But at Mallery's, when I said that I had been to Myanmar recently, people knew where it was, while In New York people would think it was a usual club. What does the writer dislike most about dinner parties in New York?
There is a strange mix of people. The restaurants are expensive. The bill is not fairly shared. People have to pay cash.