My first week in London
What can I say despite apparent lack of cows and pissing men, London is a great city, sure the sun never does shine here, but they have enough indoor activities and beer to deny and forget...and since everyone here walks around like shining beacon's no one is really bothered...
My first week in London was spent walking around to explore gallery after gallery or just walking along the newly developed South bank enjoying the riverside and pinching myself because I just could not believe that I was here. I had my first tube ride, and since I could leave my Lonely Planet at home (thanks to guidance of my lovely carers Marie and Ails), I had my headphones on and was not interested in making conversation and the fact that I am Indian (half of the Indian population actually seems to reside in the UK) I blended in and was even asked for directions at Oxford Circus station.
My first stop was to buy a coat, since winter in Australia average temps of 15 degrees on a winters day, saw my neck disappear turtle like, my hibernation and my ranting that it was just too damn cold, I felt that a good coat was going to be the only way that I could struggle through 5degree days without curling up in a small ball in front of heater. I had my first iconic British moment when I bought my coat at Marks and Spencer, and my second when I was walking home from the station and a police car blared past and I felt just like I was on the Bill.
London is a truly beautiful and exceptionally cultured city, but like any city it has it's quirks. First the British are the queens of queuing and after the screaming bum rush that happens in India for everything from entering the train to going to the toilet my queuing etiquette was a little rusty and I was promptly told off for not queuing properly at the bank, and then curtly told to have a nice day when the said telleroffer finished his business and left. I recently read an article about Londers that reveals their passive aggressive core beneath their perfectly mannered veneers - aptly told its all "terribly awfully sorry" while their eyes scream out at you to get out of my bloody way you git, fucking tourists...
They are also frighteningly quite on the train, you could hear a pin drop on the morning commute and feel a brute even breathing a little to loudly, but on a the street they are more than happy to help with directions and blissfully ignore you the rest of the time... quite a relief after feeling like a zoo animal for most of my time in India.
The best and most striking difference ofcourse is their accents, the many different accents and levels of well spokenness is amazing walking down the street, where they do occasionally talk a little I felt like I was flitting from the Bill,to the BBC, to Little Britain and then to Home and Away, every second person here is either Australian or a New Zealander and they even have their own brand of dinky pubs called Walkabout I cringe every time I walk past....
Anyway these are my first impressions of London and I off to Scotland next....
My first week in London was spent walking around to explore gallery after gallery or just walking along the newly developed South bank enjoying the riverside and pinching myself because I just could not believe that I was here. I had my first tube ride, and since I could leave my Lonely Planet at home (thanks to guidance of my lovely carers Marie and Ails), I had my headphones on and was not interested in making conversation and the fact that I am Indian (half of the Indian population actually seems to reside in the UK) I blended in and was even asked for directions at Oxford Circus station.
My first stop was to buy a coat, since winter in Australia average temps of 15 degrees on a winters day, saw my neck disappear turtle like, my hibernation and my ranting that it was just too damn cold, I felt that a good coat was going to be the only way that I could struggle through 5degree days without curling up in a small ball in front of heater. I had my first iconic British moment when I bought my coat at Marks and Spencer, and my second when I was walking home from the station and a police car blared past and I felt just like I was on the Bill.
London is a truly beautiful and exceptionally cultured city, but like any city it has it's quirks. First the British are the queens of queuing and after the screaming bum rush that happens in India for everything from entering the train to going to the toilet my queuing etiquette was a little rusty and I was promptly told off for not queuing properly at the bank, and then curtly told to have a nice day when the said telleroffer finished his business and left. I recently read an article about Londers that reveals their passive aggressive core beneath their perfectly mannered veneers - aptly told its all "terribly awfully sorry" while their eyes scream out at you to get out of my bloody way you git, fucking tourists...
They are also frighteningly quite on the train, you could hear a pin drop on the morning commute and feel a brute even breathing a little to loudly, but on a the street they are more than happy to help with directions and blissfully ignore you the rest of the time... quite a relief after feeling like a zoo animal for most of my time in India.
The best and most striking difference ofcourse is their accents, the many different accents and levels of well spokenness is amazing walking down the street, where they do occasionally talk a little I felt like I was flitting from the Bill,to the BBC, to Little Britain and then to Home and Away, every second person here is either Australian or a New Zealander and they even have their own brand of dinky pubs called Walkabout I cringe every time I walk past....
Anyway these are my first impressions of London and I off to Scotland next....
posted by My Little Life at 7:24 PM
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