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Published: February 19th 2008
Alot seems alike when travelling as a Westerner in Western countries. Transport systems, city planning, mainstream culture, housing, food (not to mention chain restaurants) and even some traits of people's social behavior can seem as familiar as home. All may seem very predictable - which is boring for some and comfortable for others. But I think it then becomes more important to keep an eye open to
nuances.
It struck me while sitting on the train, from Stansted to London City area, that the grass is much greener in England than in Sweden - nuance. Well, if you can even call the January mud in Sweden 'grass'. I was excited to (finally) visit and spend a weekend in one of the world most known cities, London. On the train you could find the same individualistic silence you would find in most Western cultures nowadays. Social interaction of humans is not overwhelming. Some zone out through MP3 players, others look out of the window (that's how I discovered the grass) and others may look at anything but in the eyes of fellow humans. Perhaps people are pondering their daily 'problems'. Or maybe they have so many friends that they avoid new
Nuance
Even toilets are greener...acquaintances. Sometimes it might simply be fear to meet a 'strangers' who
could be 'murderers', 'thieves', 'rapists' and/or Buddha knows what else. Whatever reason for this lack of human communication in busy cities, it's nice to break the silence yourself or enjoy when someone does so.
My hopes were high on the two Spanish travellers, on the other side of the alley, who I assumed in my prejudice to be more talkative than the average European. But after some low-voiced discussion over a map they turned silent as well.
Affected by this environment, it took me a while to gather courage to speak to the man in front of me. Before doing that, I let all the variables and possible outcomes run through my head first:
Does British culture accept direct approach from strangers asking questions? Is there a special way to start a conversation? Should I just do a "Excuse me?" and ask him questions about London or other info I would like? Maybe I should just say hello,(with non-british accent?)? I tell you, usually I don't think too much on how to approach but this time I wanted to let the culture affect me, to get a feeling of it,
before allowing my own beliefs take over the situation and 'intrude' 😊 The funny thing is that I had brought some fruits and nuts with myself from Sweden to have a snack during waiting times. I love Persian pistache and cashewnuts as some of you know. Ever since I heard
Jack Johnson's 'The sharing song' I've tried to conciously ingrain sharing with people in my behavior. If I have something to share, I try to share it with someone - stranger or no stranger. But the thing is that, when I whispered the phrase, in my mind, that I wanted to say to the man in front of me, it didn't sound like a good opening line:
"Hi, how are you? Would you like some of my nuts? They're really good! Persian quality! Well you see the dilemma and no way I was going to let my first encouter with an English end up with a bloody nose (yes another prejudice that British fight alot).So after a few more minutes of human interaction lost, I finally asked him:
Are you British, ehh I mean English? He turned out to be a talkative Irish (neither British or English, then :P) and he was on his
way to a motobike show somehwere in London. If you think you know English well, wait until you meet an Irish. Forget pronunciation and grammar. Nothing makes sense anymore. We both arrived at Tottenham Hale and departed as I took the Victoria line towards Brixon for my first encounter with the famous 'Tube' - no, not YouTube, but the
London underground.
One of the reasons I was in London was to make a market research of how British use their mobile phones and what kind of services there are available there. It wasn't a good start to find out that there is no network coverage in the whole underground system - nada! That means alot of business opportunities are lost since people can neither talk, send text msg or browse the Internet in the London Underground - nuance! Another nuance, coming from a Nordic country where people eat healthy and grow tall, was the the Tube is designed for midgets. I mean I am not THAT tall but I would have loved to see some of my Swedish friends standing on the sides of the wagon. Again, no social interaction, as grave silent as the Stockholm underground (subway, T-bana or
tube if you like). It makes me wonder what came first: The need for a device like iPod since it's so boring on the public transport, or if it was the revolutionary entry of music devices that diminished social interaction.
I know,,, I keep nagging about social this and social that,,,but these are thought that strikes me when I try to imagine where we are, and where we are going with our (here we go again) social behavior. Ok, I'll stop for a moment now and move on! In the lift on the way to ground level in Tufnell Park, a middle aged lady shouted loudly:
DO NOT OBSTRUCT THE DOORS!!! DO NOT SMOKE This rude lady turned out to be the automatic voice coming from the speakers - nuance. I mean, maybe the London climate is more harsh than other cities, but I doubt it's any remededy to throw out orders, like in a Nazi camp, to gain obedience? What do you think? So, after this first insult to personal integrity I was ready to check in at my hotel and take a nap.
I was exhausted since
cheap flights leave early in the morning - VERRY EARLY! But since the room
wasn't ready I had to wait in the lobby. I crashed down in a leather armchair and enjoyed the hotel managers conversation with his friend, in Greek. Multi cultural happiness comforted me and the hypnotising sound of the clock on the wall calmed me. Time was ticking, but all stood still! (If you have ever seen a work of Dalí with a motif of his famous
clock, which bends time and space, you would know exactly what I'm talking about!)
In my fatigue and with the distinct sound of Tick-Tack, I was reminded of childhood memories in my great grandmother's and grandmother's house. The sound is very hypnotic and even relaxing when you have 'time' to enjoy it. I longed for a bed (as I do now, since I'm writing this 2am in the morning, hence my
digression) and if you combined the Greek chit-chat with the tick-tack, no tranquiliser in the world could compete with its effect. So now I will go back to bed and continue the rest of my story tomorrow - there is some more to share!
After the sleep
It was now time to meet up with Sonia and her sister Maya. I
met Sonia in on my last visit to Switzerland and she was going to celebrate her birthday (same day as I arrived) in London, where Maya, her twin sister lives. We started this great day by doing what anyone who is hungry in London should do - go to Chinatown. Forget deep fried British food (nuance) and go for the noodle soup with duck :P The company was great, food was tasty and a day of exploration, celebration and something else with 'ation' had started. We walked around and Maya showed us famous areas around Piccadilly. The girls were so nice actually that we met up for every day of my visit. Camden markets, Big Ben, London Eye, restaurants and clubs were all part of our activities. We laughed, danced, ate and talked together like we had been friends for a long time. Thanks for the good times Sonia and Maya 😉
At times I went alone on escapades walking around the city to discover, yes that's right, nuances. The following pictures may tell some of that. I didn't find London as huge as I expected which made me happy. I felt that alot of things were actually in walking
distance (they should improve bicycle roads) if you have the time and energy. I like that with European cities, they are more compact than for example some American, Australian or Asian cities where cars are made a necessity. As I was walking around I was, like so many others, struck by the architecture and amazing buildings. I came to think about the people that had built them, and where the money came from. Some history reading could easily explain that by the British colonisation of other civilisation and the following capitalisation on that.
Of course a long weekend is only enough to scratch the surface of the mentality, attitude and culture of the city. To me, London was a city with great richness in differences. Aristocracy-Poverty, Cultural mix-Homogenous elite seem represented without meeting. A funny thought struck me: What if the poor people of London would abandon the city! What would happen to the structure that MP:s, Earls, Duke's, Counts, Princes and Queens rely on? hahahah... imagine Queen E neatly tying the trash bag and carrying it out herself. Well you get the idea!
The lifestyle and social behaviour in Western cultures, is a role model for the
population in many developing countries. There is a romantic view on this life stlye, perhaps because of the western civilisations' successes in areas like art, fashion, technology, medicin and economics. We all want happiness in our lives. We can base this happiness on alot of things. I have my preferences, you have yours! The question is what will happen if the trend that I see continues. What if the perceived happiness of a large number of people will stand on the legs of individualism, materialism and consumtion? If so, what happens when China, India and other formerly poor countries want the same as we have created the past 50 years? Can Mother Earth survive that? How we are behaving, why and what the consequences will be are questions that I need to investigate further....
For the record: I had alot of fun in London, and oh, the public transport was great!
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anonymous
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Beniiiii...I must say your trip to London has somewhat discouraged me from travelling out there this summer. Maybe it's the winter climate that causes such a 'greyness' in people? Can't say that Canada is that much different where I'm from...Love the pictures and happy to hear from you...