Last summer I went to London for two weeks, staying with friends. During my trip, I took note of the differences between England and my own country.
I was really impressed, on arriving in the British capital, at the sheer scale of it all: huge monuments, endless traffic jams, etc. It made a radical change from Aurillac!
On my first full day, I took the Tube to go to the British Museum. On the underground, everybody seemed to be either reading a newspaper or eating. In London, taxis and public transport are used a lot because it’s difficult to drive around and to find a place to park but also because it’s really expensive to get to the center of London in your own vehicle (an £8 ‘entrance fee’!). I chose to mostly walk because I think that it is the best way to see everything and to take good photos. I found that it was easy to get around (I did not get lost!), and when I asked my way, people always answered with a smile.
My first day, like the rest of my holiday in fact, was really good. But the London experience isn’t the same for everybody of course. I met a French couple in a park. Their daughter had offered them a journey to London for two days. It was the first time that they had been to London so they wanted to visit all the monuments. Of course, that was impossible, so they were exhausted. Moreover, they described Londoners as strange people: “They are always eating, none of them speaks French, and they are so aggressive!” From my experience, that’s just not true. For me, London is a city where there is always something to do and to see. I felt really free there: I did what I wanted when I wanted to…
London is an ideal city to spend your holidays, but living there is another kettle of fish apparently… One afternoon, reading the Evening Standard like most people stuck in the underground, I learned from an article that thousands of Londoners, though they work full time, still struggle to keep a roof over their heads… Maybe that’s the reason there are so many charity workers on the streets who try to explain to passers-by the difficulties of poorer Londoners and who shake money boxes under your nose. There are also lots of shops where you can buy cheap food staples or second-hand clothes, and the profits are given to a charity that fights poverty, etc…
Something that displeased me during my trip was the behavior of a lot of tourists in the museums: they did not bother to read anything about the objects they took so many pictures of! The museums in London are most impressive: the collections are huge and so amazingly varied. I learned lots of new words, like ‘mummies’ and ‘dolls’, in the V&A, the British Museum, etc.
In the afternoons and in the evenings, it was really pleasant to walk along the Thames because there are lots of artists (who painted on the ground), musicians and magicians there. London by night is as interesting as during the day: lots of people, much noise and fun things to see.
On another day, Clive and Christine, my friends, took me to Hampstead Park, where there are ponds to swim in, and to a farm, where people can work as volunteers to “forget” the city for a moment. I think it’s a great idea, especially for children; they get to see other things than buildings…
During my second week in London, I worked at Usborne’s, a publishing house. People were very kind there. I had to translate several Spanish book titles into English and vice-versa (it was difficult because my Spanish isn’t really very good!). I also had to file away various documents for Sharon (Christine’s colleague) and that was a lot of work! I had thought that Christine and the others worked more on the actual books but in fact most of the time they seem to just type away at their computers… boring, or what?!
One evening, we went to the Royal Albert Hall to listen to a Proms concert of music from the famous British TV series Doctor Who. It was magical and during the musical performance various vampires and assorted monsters invaded the auditorium. There were also several actors from the series present. The fans were delighted as you can imagine. I have never seen anything quite like it before: very weird, but good fun!
The street markets are one of my favorite things in London. There are lots of trendy hats and clothes to buy, and old postcards and knickknacks too… Portobello in Nothing Hill is the best.
On the last day I met a friend of Clive’s, a history teacher. He said to me that his pupils are really influenced by MTV. The girls in his class say “Oh my god!” all the time and chew gum, and aren’t really very serious… For him, this is a problem in all English schools. Not like in France, where we are serious, respectful and so hard-working…
If you’ve not been to London yet, what are you waiting for?! OK, it’s not cheap, but it’s a trip worth saving up for… Go!
Article by Lidwine Spire
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