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Thank you to everyone who sent me the link to the great SMH article about queuing on the tube. An idea I’d wanted to write about written far more eloquently than I could have done myself. Awesome. I’d definitely recommend reading it; in fact, do it right now – but then come back to me! http://www.smh.com.au/travel/the-key-to-londons-escalator-etiquette-20091103-hu1e.html
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OK, so what he said. He had the right observation and even went the extra mile and found the reason why it is so (saved me some Googling, thanks guy).
All I can add is my personal experience & opinion … and that is that I absolutely love this queuing phenomenon, It’s so…. orderly, so… intelligent! A marvel of human consciousness.
It’s not the standing on the right issue that interests me (although we will talk about that in my next blog), but it’s the vigilant enforcement of the rules by all Londoners which makes me happy. I think it’s a great example of human herd mentality – people working together for the greater good of the collective. And the herd in this case being the peak hour tube travellers.
I’ve been catching peak hour tubes for a month now, and I can tell you that with so many people down there you would die without some sort of system. No joke. DIE. So there’s a system; and it’s simple – queue to the right if you want to stand still on the escalators, or queue to the left if you want to walk. And by Joe, if you don’t know the rules then in my opinion you deserve whatever is coming to you. That’s London, too bad, so sad. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. (Haha, how often can you use that expression?)
You would be amazed how angry it makes people when someone is not abiding by the rules – people clearly not part of the London Herd. The SMH article does not exaggerate; you will get barraged; in fact, I’ve almost done some barraging of my own! (OK, not really, but I did do a lot of huffing and puffing which was almost entirely ineffective but made me feel superior).
I’m not sure if it was my experienced Londoner friends who taught me the rules originally (if so, thank you!) or if I just happen NOT to be an idiot and picked it up on my own. Because it’s starkly obvious from your first tube trip what the rules are and I’m convinced that those who don’t obey are both obnoxious and arrogant or have IQ’s slightly below that of a normal person. One last time, no excuses people.
PS Hmmm. I think from the rant I just went on that I may be starting to settle into London… what do you think? I got really mad there just thinking about those idiots.
How many times have you heard a horror story that started with “it was a dark and stormy night…”? Some fast facts: bet you didn’t know that they were talking about London. And bet you didn’t know it wasn’t necessarily night time either.
London is getting dark, and stormy. That Indian summer is O-V-E-R and daylight is definitely a hot commodity. And it seems to have snuck up on me a bit. I didn’t notice until Sunday afternoon when it started getting dark at like, 4pm. Huh? I had to have an early dinner.
Some sort of natural instinct is telling me to make like a bear and hibernate. I just wanna curl up into a little ball and go to sleep for 6 months. So of course, that’s exactly what I did (after an early dinner) on Sunday afternoon. Fine for the first weekend I guess, but I think I need a better plan for the next 6 months lest my life just become eating, drinking and sleeping.
The mind just boggles to think that Europe could have been the starting point of western civilisation with weather like this. Of all the blasted places to hang out, why, why on earth didn’t they go somewhere a little more… tropical? You would think that you would get the happiest, most advanced people from a sunny outdoorsy-type place. Of maybe they were too happy to need advancement. Maybe the bad weather was what drove all that European sea exploration? They’re all hanging out a few hundred years ago thinking, “there’s gotta be a better way”… and they got so desperate they actually thought sailing away into nothing was a better idea than staying put. I guess the weather does explain why they were white.
My home country may not be the biggest country; it is not the richest or the smartest. We are not considered to be a world leader, or even particularly influential on the world stage. But we do have 1 claim to fame that I don’t think any other country has been clever enough to do, and certainly not the UK. Before I disclose what makes Australia GENIUS let’s talk a little bit about some more of my experiences in London (for shits and giggles).
I bought a bottle of water the other day and it cost £1.16, I handed a £2 coin over and received a full 84p change. That was 4 x 20p coins and 2x2p coins… just a day-to-day mundane activity, right?
But I think you need to stop and ask yourself at this point, as I asked myself at that moment – what the frig am I going to do with 2x2p coins? They are big, bronze, dirty and absolutely USELESS. And the same goes for 1p coins – they are just a little smaller. You have to accumulate heaps of them to be able to do anything with them. They take up space in your wallet that could be occupied by more valuable coins. They weigh down your pockets and make it difficult to balance in heels.
Probably a lot of you are thinking, who cares Lou? Well, me, actually because I happen to come from a country that got rid of both the 1 and 2 cent pieces in 1992 and I know with what ease these simple day-to-day transactions can take place. It’s GENIUS, I tell you. I’d totally taken this benefit for granted until moving to London where I am constantly plagued with having to get rid of my useless dirty brown coins.
The most obvious place to put them is in the Charity tin collections that thankfully sit on most store counter tops – especially in stores dispensing lots of dirty brown coins like Tesco and M&S. But then, what kind of cheap ass only donates 1p and 2p pieces? I think the shop assistants judge me; apparently 1 and 2p pieces are not even good enough for charity.
So often I try to leave quickly without taking the change if its only 1 or 2p, but sometimes I’m not fast enough and have to tell the assistants to “keep the change”… this obviously just leads to more judging. Latest trick is just “accidentally” dropping them. In Boots last night I tried this tactic and thankfully the dirty brown coin in question rolled under the counter. Free! I surely will not be this lucky all the time…
P.S. For anyone who’s going to suggest that I should save up all my 1 and 2p coins in a piggy bank for years and years and reap the rewards at the end; I have only this to say. If you’re going to bother with a piggy bank, try putting £1 and £2 coins in instead and see what happens then. BOOYAH!
Today I made a very very exciting purchase; possibly one my most favourite purchases I’ve bought since I left home…. An “I Love Tea” mug! Oh god how I love tea. It makes me happy when I’m down, it heals my illness, it calms me, and it makes me feel safe and warm and cuddly. Tea is a conversationalist, a confidante, a friend. …Are you still with me?
On the box of Twinings English breakfast I also bought today there was a lovely quote from a guy called Noel Coward (yeh, I didn’t know who he was either until I Wikipedia-ed it) “Wouldn’t it be dreadful to live in a country where they didn’t drink tea?”
Hell yes, Noel, it would be dreadful.
But thankfully, England is definitely NOT one of those countries. Yes, it cannot be denied that Londoners LOVE their Starbucks and Costa Coffee outlets – more than I would have believed actually – but the good ol’ fashioned cup’o’tea still has a strong following here. There are people in London who understand and identify with the way I talk about tea. But I guess that comes as no surprise, as British people have long been associated with the drinking of tea.
Why? A quick history of tea in the UK if you will permit – it’s actually a bit racy! Tea originated in China and was first imported to England in the 1660s. After a little PR campaign from the East India Company, It took off – and the Chinese government had England bent over a barrel as demand rose. So the English government, rather than having to pay for tea in silver, started producing opium to trade with instead. Hmmm…. What the!?! Anyway, eventually they changed tactics and simply stole and smuggled the plant to India where they could grow it themselves.
Anyway, it’s this colonial growing of tea that really connected tea with the British Character. And contrary to what I first thought, they are not snobs about their tea either. They seem to understand and respect that people take their tea differently and refrain from criticism. I like my tea from a tea bag, weak, with milk and sugar and always, always in the biggest mug I can find – cups and saucers just don’t do it for me. I’ve had many a raised eyebrow back home from tea snobs in the past, so this is a nice surprise.
So back to my ode to tea… I found a great website with a list of tea-related quotes so I’ll just give you a couple of my favs:
“Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.” ~ Author unknown
“I always fear that creation will expire before teatime.” ~Sydney Smith (a man obviously after my own heart)
“If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.” ~Japanese Proverb (hehe, suckers to you coffee drinkers)
“The perfect temperature for tea is two degrees hotter than just right.” ~The Quote Garden (obviously from an expert tea drinker… so true!)
OK, OK, I better stop – this could go on and on; may need another tea post in the future…
Traffic Light Tree near Canary Wharf
At the risk of stating the obvious, London is a big, fast, pulsating city and if you don’t watch out you’ll get run down. Literally. I cannot tell you how many times I have nearly been run down. In fact, my traffic experience since arriving in London is straight from the small town girl moves to the big smoke stereotype variety.
But wait a minute, that’s not right! Sure, my home town isn’t as big as London by any means, but it’s not exactly small at 4 million people. Plus, I have a HUGE advantage over most new arrivals in that I am used to cars driving on the left hand side of the road. Anyone who has ever had to make the switch will know what a hard habit this is to break and how often it leads to difficult traffic circumstances… but I don’t have that. I always walk with purpose (because that’s what you do in London), and the effect of my high heels can only be minimal – so what’s up? I’m seriously not joking when I say I nearly get run over several times a day.
I decided my problem warranted some investigation into the matter – this involved going out to the corner and looking at the traffic lights (the effort I put in for this blog I tell you). A couple of sets of lights was all I needed to figure out what was happening.
London traffic lights work in a slightly diferent way to most others I have encountered in that they give drivers a warning when the lights are about to change from red to green – essentially the amber light lights up in conjunction with the red for a few seconds before going full green. Apparently the history of this stage was to allow drivers to release their handbrake. And when I think about manual cars I can see a rationale for including this step; pity there are not many manual cars around today. London drivers instead however seem to have missed the fact that this light is just a “get ready to go” signal and just take off as fast as they can.
To make matters worse, the warming sign for pedestrians that they are nearly out of time also seems to be slightly different for me in London. Instead of the red man flashing to let me know I’m out of time, the light just goes black. All good and well, except that this occurs at exactly the same time as the flashing amber light starts for the cars.
So basically for poor little me, it means I’m out in the middle of the crossing when suddenly, without warning my light goes black and the wall of cars next to me suddenly zooms out to attack. And of course somehow all the people I was crossing the road with are already to safety on the other side. After much honking on the cars part, and much scooting on my part I manage to get to the other side in one piece. But this is no way to around.
So my solution? To be honest I cheat and try not to cross at crossing at all! I prefer a good ol fashioned median strip where I can attack each side of traffic one at a time.
I have been a little unsure about whether or not I should be blogging about some of the more touristy things I have been doing lately – is anyone really interested? (Feel free to tell me if you’re not btw, I won’t mind as long as you tell me what you are interested in) In the end I have decided that I will share because visiting the regular tourist haunts has been super interesting and really helped shaped my picture of London. Plus I’m new enough to still get away with it.
The best of the bunch by far in my mind has to be Westminster Abbey. This place was astounding, and to think my boyf and I weren’t even going to go inside when we first walked by. It is one of the only big tourist spots in London to charge admission – about £12 from memory. Boy am I glad we decided not to be stingy that day.
Aside from the fact that it’s a stunningly beautiful building (think your typical European Cathedral and you’ve got a good picture) this place is PACKED to the rafters with English history – all made readily available to you through audio guides which are included in the admission fee. There are so many things going on I’ll just focus on highlights.
Queen Elizabeth I is buried here under a striking marble statue made in her likeness. Mary I or Bloody Mary, her sister, is buried directly underneath her. On their tomb is inscribed “Consorts in realm and in tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of resurrection” – consorts here referring both to siblings, and to sharing something in common. Interestingly, her rival, Mary Queen of Scots is buried in reverence at the exactly the same location as Elizabeth on the opposite side of the chapel. Both the positioning of the tombs and the inscription on the tomb of Elizabeth and Mary I were placed there by James I, Elizabeth’s successor who truly united the 2 kingdoms. Other notable royal burials include Edward the Confessor (made a Roman Catholic saint in 1161) and the Plantagenet Kings of Crusader fame (Lionheart, Longshanks).
All English Royal coronations have taken place in Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror in 1066, and since 1308, would you believe, all in the same chair. You can see the rather plain looking chair on display in the abbey.
The infamous Poets Corner is also housed in Westminster Abbey, with tombs and memorials for England’s most predominant artistic types. My fav’s included Jane Austen, Shakespeare, the Bronte Sisters, Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, Laurence Olivier and Rudyard Kipling (but the list goes on).
And finally for the Da Vinci Code fans (and who’s not?) there is also the memorial to Sir Isaac Newton which features at the end of the book. This is next to the Charles Darwin memorial in the Scientists corner (the less famous corner it would seem)
Basically, this place is a history buff’s wet dream – and for the rest of us, it proves to be one of those occurrences I mentioned in my last post, another amazing door that London has opened and dares you to want more. Yes, please.
louashton
