Tuesday 19 August 2008

London people

A quick post whilst freeloading in the Apple Store. Actually looking for some software for work, but couldn't help but check on the blog. Funnily enough it hasn't felt strange coming to England, it's all the same old, same old. I had forgotten how dirty it is, that there may be rats around (my biggest fear in the world), but also how kind and friendly people can be (well, in the outskirts at least, in the City no one has time for that). Yesterday I fell on the slippery ground (it had rained) and immediately passers by were running towards me to check if I was ok. Of course, this happened in Croydon, in the Westend I would have been high street roadkill!

The English don't suffer from the social incompetence of the Swedes who think everything is too embarrassing (Gud vad piiiiinsamt!). In Sweden, we restrict ourselves from giving up seats to the elderly or pregnant on public transport, even though we want to, just in case that person who is offered says no, imagine the embarrassment! Of course 'we' does not include me, my family or any of my friends ; ) Since I had mentally prepared myself for this coldness, so foreign to Ghana, I am constantly pleasantly surprised everywhere I go. Hopefully, I will also be pleasantly surprised when I get to Sweden, not provoked as I usually am each time before I've even reached my house. Then again, who cares, I am there to enjoy the little time I have this visit for my friends and family, especially new family members.

Can't wait!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You Scandinavians are something else :) I remember on my first visit to London I remarked on how clean London was compared to the downtown of most American cities (talking about rats, you should see the ones in New York City that even have the guts to attack pedestrians) anyway I digress......

My husband's Norwegian colleague looked at me in horror and commented that clean was the exaggeration of the year! It is true that Scandinavia is in a league of its own but surely London is not that bad?

By the way that is the only region of Europe that I have a great desire to visit :)

Maya Mame said...

Rats attacking pedestrians???! I'm so glad I didn't hear this before my trip to New York or I'd never have gone!

But yes, Scandinavia is definitely on a different level of cleanliness (for Swedes, London cannot be considered clean at all). Most people who've come to visit me in Sweden, from London, exclaim already at the airport that 'this place is soooo clean!'. Apparently using Landvetter airport's spacious, bright toilets (with doors that open outwards)is a cleaner experience than you'd get even in most London homes!

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