musings on my London sojourn

[johncomic]

- the first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the shuttle from the airport to our hotel, was the smell of smoke. Not a smoke I could identify: didn't smell like traffic, factories, campfires, tobacco. Not necessarily an unpleasant smoke, but I was unable to identify it as anything other than smoke of some sort. And no matter what section of London I visited, no matter what day, that smoky smell was always there.

- we spent the first few days in a hotel in Westminster, then moved to a flat in Bloomsbury for the following week. I gather that these are among the more well-to-do sections of the city, and that I consequently received a skewed view and experience of London. Had I stayed in other parts, I'm sure it would have seemed a very different place to what I will describe here.

- this is the first time I've ever spent more than a few hours in a noticeably affluent area, and I found it manifested itself in a number of ways:

• on average, people looked healthier. Good posture, clear skin, good energy levels. Far less obesity than I'm used to seeing everywhere else I've ever been. (I felt like a stereotypical Fat American®.) It was as if they could afford to take better care of themselves.


• I saw and heard people from all over the world, it seemed. I don't recall seeing any Aboriginal Americans or Australians but that's about it. On my way over, I was expecting to stand out on account of my accent, with everyone asking me if I was American (so I could proudly reply, “Nope, Canadian!”) ... but there were all kinds of accents from all over, everywhere, so mine was just lost in the crowd...


• apparently they have the money to afford to maintain their heritage and the will to invest that money in that direction. Here of course I'm talking about the profusion of magnificent historic architecture.
  It's not that there are no “modern” buildings -- glass and concrete boxes like we have back home -- but so much of what stands in London is made of stone and old brick and old wood, a century old or more, well-used but also well cared-for and fully functional. This city is old but not broken down. Such a wealth of styles and artists, the buildings are resplendent, imposing and gorgeous. At one point I said I could retire and spend the rest of my life just trying to take in all the architecture.
  You can't do that back home. We never had such beautiful buildings to begin with, and for the most part no one is interested in keeping them -- far more likely that they will be torn down and replaced with a glass and concrete box, which may not be able to survive a century anyway. I was keenly aware that I come from a very young, colonial nation.


• I gradually realized that there is a class system quietly in place here. Among the profusion of people from around the globe who fill the streets, I would guess that around 60% of the folks I saw were Anglo-Saxons, or “native Brits” if you will. However, of the people I encountered working in the service industry -- cashiers, clerks, waiters, cleaners, etc. -- those same Anglo-Saxons accounted for less than 5% of them. I understand that these are generally entry-level positions for young people, but don't young Anglo-Saxons need entry-level jobs too? So where were they?
  Sharon pointed something out to me when we were visiting Westfield. We wandered into a section at one end which had noticeably less foot traffic, and all the shops were extremely high-end, selling ritzy-looking suits and whatnot, with no price tags or signs in sight anywhere... and Sharon noticed that all the sales staff in those stores were Anglo-Saxons.


• I've always thought of myself as militantly working-class. I've always lived on a modest budget and felt that I never needed more -- I had no use for conspicuous consumption, needless luxury, decadence, yadda yadda. But after I spent a while in the more affluent part of London, I realized that I liked it and I could easily develop a taste for “the finer things in life”. This is something I never knew about myself and was a little surprised to learn.

- London's transit system fascinated me, especially the Underground. Hard to say why, as on the surface it's very little different from the subway in Toronto. But its vastly greater extent, the profusion of exotic place names, the architectural variety of the stations, etc. made it all very appealing. I enjoyed travelling there.
TfL also underscored the very different relationship London has with the automobile. At home, there seems to be an assumption that everyone has a car. In London, they appear to assume the opposite. Very little thought is given to providing parking. And shops are scattered so densely around the city that you are always within easy walking distance of just about anything you need.
Our flat was three or four blocks away from a large supermarket plunk right in the middle of a primarily residential area. Back home they'd never consider building a supermarket there because “there's no place for a parking lot”. In London, the lack of a parking lot is no impediment whatsoever to placing (and successfully running) a business.

- this business density manifested itself in other ways. I counted four pubs within a two-block semi-circle from our flat. All appeared to be thriving nicely. Around here you can't have that many similar businesses that close together and have any of them survive -- there simply aren't enough customers. Is the city that much more densely populated than back home??

- getting back to the “stone and wood”: I noticed a sort of aversion to using plastic. Items like serving trays were often made of wood, or sometimes metal, where at home they would almost inevitably be plastic. Stairways had wooden railings, which require (and get) a lot of upkeep, instead of the synthetic that I see in so many public places in Canada. I once saw a full-length mirror with a gorgeous antique wooden frame, which was simply used by the store's customers instead of being placed in a museum. There's something peaceful and grounding about seeing so much wood and stone and whatnot being used in daily life. It's as if they're more willing to make the necessary investments to enjoy and maintain such an environment, where back home such decisions are based purely on The Bottom Line.

- food in London is not what I expected.
At home, just about any food that is marketed as “English-style” ends up being heavy and greasy, but I found actual English food to be just the opposite. How they can deep-fry something like fish'n'chips, and have it turn out so light and crisp and non-greasy, remains a delightful mystery. The general quality of their food seems higher than what I'm used to at home. Many more items take pride in proclaiming themselves additive-free, freshly-made, etc. They just eat better quality, better-prepared food than we do.
At home, our fast-food chains are all burgers and pizza and donuts, basically. In London I saw comparatively little of such places, but you can hardly walk two blocks without seeing a branch of Pret A Manger, where they make sandwiches fresh on the premises every day with interesting and healthy ingredients with no preservatives. At home, buying a pre-made wrapped sandwich is asking for an unpleasant experience which may include food poisoning. But a sandwich from Pret is better than what you can make for yourself in your own kitchen. I'm sure that more than half of our lunches were bought from there. And even the convenience stores offer fresh sandwiches of comparable quality as well. You're never far from good-quality fast food in London. (However, I will admit that *$ has managed to saturate the city as thoroughly as it has North America...)

- Londoners are nice. I've always taken pride in the niceness of Canadians, but this trip made me realize that we are polite but we're not always so nice. Londoners were always offering to do things for us that clearly went above and beyond. One small example: in pubs, staff bring your food to your table but you're expected to first go to the bar and place your order. That's how it works there: the staff don't take your order at your table -- a pub is different from a restaurant that way. But once, as a waitress was clearing our table, she asked if we were planning to order dessert, and then she's like “Oh g'wan, tell me what you want and I'll go place the order for you”. Not her job, but she did it anyway. Without being asked. Staff back home simply don't do things like that, as a rule.

- London is so big and complex that I can't have just one reaction to it. On my second night there I said to myself, I couldn't live here -- it's too big, too much, there's too much to take in and contend with. A couple days later we were having coffee in Westfield and I suddenly thought I would love to be a part of all this.

So what do I really think of London? I'm not sure. Depends when you ask me, I suppose. But I'll bet that my response will tend to be favorable overall...

Comments

London life

[bevantor.livejournal.com]

I love London. If I could afford to live there, I probably would - for at least part of the year anyway. I wouldn't bother owning a vehicle. No need when you can get anywhere you want by underground, walking or, in a pinch, by cab (bus travel makes me nauseous).

The trouble is, to live well in London (or anywhere in England) does cost quite a bit more than to live decently in Canada. On the other hand, they do accept OHIP and have their own public health care system and the transit system is far superior to any North American City I know of with the possible exception of New York. (It's safer than NYC, though.)

It's probably thanks to Jamie Oliver and his ilk that the cuisine has improved. When I was there, London had its fair share of Macdonalds and Wimpy Burger outlets. (Not as many *$, though. It's been a while for me.) On the other hand, it should be no surprise that they do fish and chips well - they invented the stuff. The secret is really hot oil. I prefer a London Broil or picking up a half-shell of winkles at the market.

English cuisine has improved immensely over the last few decades. There was a time when it deserved it's bad rep and fish and chips or a fry-up were the best choices available. Those days are long gone.