First impressions

I’ve been here for a week now and it’s time to report. As I mentioned in my last post, I won’t bore you with the details of my comings and goings, rather, I’ll just try to give you a taste of the flavour that is London.

For starters, London is gritty, busy, noisy, and smelly (not always in a bad way). And I love it! It goes without saying that it’s completely different from Saskatoon, particularly in its frenetic pace. I’m often left with the sensation that must be common to Salmon swimming upstream to spawn (well, not the spawning bit). I’ve been trying very hard not to look like a tourist so as to avoid incurring the silent wrath of the populace. Tourists are annoying and I feel somewhat glib when I think of myself as a resident, rather tan a visitor. I guess in the grand scheme of things I really am nothing more than a glorified, long-term tourist but the artificial difference in my mind helps me to feel more at home and more comfortable in my role here.

The one point where I undoubtedly stand out as a foreigner is definitely my apparel. Most people here are very well dressed. Those who aren’t tend to be disciples of a fashion movement I like to call ‘urban grunge’. If I’m to fit in here (and not look like something off an ‘avant garde’ runway) I’m going to have to spruce things up a little.

The city itself is amazing. There is something for everyone, and every twist and turn offers some new jem to explore or admire. The sheer diversity of the place is mind boggling. Within hours of stepping off the plane I’d used both my French and my Spanish and there were countless times in which knowing any one of a couple dozen languages could have come in handy. At church last Sunday all the visitors were asked to introduce themselves. There were two Canadians, two Frenchmen, a Brazilian, a Hungarian, a handful of Americans, and then a few more whose nationalities I forget. Remember, that’s just the newcomers! I had secretly hoped to pick up a bit of a British accent while studying here but I’m just as likely to leave here sounding East Indian or German!

(The London Eye with the Palace of Westminster in the rear.)

I guess there are some of you who may be interested in seeing where I live so I’ll include a few pictures of my room. I share a bathroom, kitchen (including a tiny fridge), and shower with three or four other flat-mates. The accommodations are spartan but comfortable enough (except for the fridge). I’m within walking distance of the London School of Economics and of many other sights and attractions which comes in handy because getting around is rather expensive. A one way ticket on the Tube (subway) is £4.00 (roughly $8.00) so rest assured that I’m getting my exercise in!

(It's what a real-estate agent would call 'cozy'.)

(Really 'cozy'.)

OK, that should do it for today. As I said last time though, let me know if there’s anything about which you’d like to hear more and I’ll be glad to oblige.

The first of many?

Well folks, I’ve wrestled with my inner Luddite and started a blog. I suppose this is what they call progress. In any event this ‘progress’ seems to have been inaevitable and the blog was the lesser of two evils (the other, of course, being Facebook). I’ve been blessed with a bunch of really good people in my life but knowing myself as I do, I’m almost positive I won’t be able to keep them all satisfied with respect to what’s going on in jolly old England. While I’m not egocentric enough to believe that people will be better off by keeping track of my comings and goings, I do know that there’s a certain degree of interest in all things foreign so I’m trying to satiate that curiosity in the most efficient (albeit relatively less personal) way possible: the blog. A good friend of mine did his Master’s in Belgium and his blog seemed to serve him (and all the rest of us left in Canada) well. So there you have it. The marginal benefit of blogging (i.e. keeping in touch and assuaging my mother’s fears that I may have met an untimely end at the hands of the pigeons of Trafalgar Square) exceeds the marginal cost (i.e. swallowing my pride and entering the 21st century).

I’m not really sure how to approach this so I think I’ll probably try to come up with a weekly post. No promises, but that’s the plan as of now. Since I’m admitedly a novice at all this I’d really appreciate your feedback because, in all honesty, I’m doing this more for you than I am for me. You may as well tell me what it is you like or what you’d like done differently (e.g. more pictures/less social commentary, etc). If I don’t hear from anyone I may just assume no one’s reading this and decide unilaterally to pull the plug on the whole thing (yes, that was a thinly veiled threat...I’m sure you’re all quaking in your boots now.)

Well, that should do it for an introduction, besides I have to go check my bags for my hop across the ‘Pond’. (I’m in the Vancouver airport right now. How’s that for my first forray into the blogosphere?) Stay tuned for something of substance and –drumroll please- PICTURES. If I can figure out how to do that...sigh.

Graham, out.