Ye Olde England

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June 9th 2005

Published: March 9th 2008

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Yellow Head

East Sussex Pub Walk

quite possibly the best aspect of wee olde england

After months of cross Atlantic travel and racking up air mileage the day had finally arrived. I had recently graduated from college and with no jobs or anything to tie me down in the states I was free to do as I wished.

It’s a strange part of your life when this opportunity finally presents itself. For the most part of your life you have had to conform to the system and go from school to school and struggle to pass test after test. Then all of a sudden the system is broken. Some choose to continue the cycle and go onto getting a dog, a wife, or a career but there are also those that chose to go a different route. No offense, but for each their own, right? The later of the two choices can be both scary and liberating at the same time. You don’t have much money to speak of and after years of pounding your way through the system you mainly only have two important pieces of paper to vouch for your name.

After a bit of planning I had managed to obtain a six-month visa to the UK through the BUNAC program. It

Suffield

the new walk home

was a ripe off and I probably could have traveled there with or without that little blue piece of paper and found under the under the table work but it was reassuring. And with that, I was off. I would be crossing the pond indefinitely to join my girl in a lovely little town called Sheffield.

I didn’t know what to expect when I got there. Up to that point I had mainly only been through London and East Sussex, which I still talk up as being the best parts of Britain. However, Sheffield turned out to be a lot different from what I come to love in the south. It was hard.

Sheffield used to be famous for Sheffield Steel and it was a worker man’s town. They were hard. They worked the steel pits by day and drank the bitter by night. Then the UK economy took a turn and the town found itself belly-up. The movie, “The Fully Monty”, does a good job depicting the state of things during those rough years. Now the main source of income for the town seems to be the reputable Sheffield University. Thousands of students flock to this university

Bhaaah Bhaaaah

you have to wonder where all of those tea cozies come from after all

every year from the world over. It has now become a student town with a worker man’s past.

If you aren’t a student the jobs are sparse and far between. I had just graduated from college and was going through that honeymooners phase. With that small piece of paper I thought the world was my oyster and I could make it. I was wrong and the realization of that fact shattered me. Instead, I found a job at a fancy, note that word folks, fancy restaurant waiting tables. My degree had moved me from the chip shop next door to a proper restaurant. Maybe I could have found something better if I had waited but with a dwindling student loan account I couldn’t be asked to wait.

In retrospect, it was an amazing six months. I had gone to England to do what I set out to do, spend time with, my then, girlfriend. It was rough at times but at the same time I learnt a lot. I don’t look back at it and have any regrets. England is an amazing country and I had a great time there. How could you ask for anything more than

Manchester

reunited

good pints, pickled onions, fish n’ chips, amazing curries, and a bunch of wild Brits? I want to head back there at some point to see some more sights and get a taste of ye olde England from a current prospective.

Avi’s claim of fame, “Yes, London. You know… fish, chips, cup ‘o tea, bad food, worse weather, Mary fucking Poppins… LONDON”, in Guy Ritchie’s SNATCH, doesn’t quite do the city or country justice.

It is a sweet place with good times to be had for all. And I hope I have to chance to go back there soon.

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