This is London

While London is an English speaking country, it is hard for an American to understand many of its citizens because of their rapid speech and different pronounciation. In addition, many of the people who work as clerks and cashiers are immigrants whose English is very hard to understand.

While most people know that the English use different words to describe things such as bonnet for car hood or boot for a car trunk, there are other peculiar words that I picked up on during my stay. While working with a person in an office, I noticed that when pronouncing numbers with a decimal he would use the word 'spot' in place of 'dot' or 'point'. For example, he would pronounce the number 123.56 as "one, two, three, spot, five, six." Another amusing phrase is used on the subway trains. When coming to a stop, a recorded message warns commuters to "mind the gap" which means to watch your step when leaving the train. Instead of "rooms to rent" they say "rooms to let". Trucks are called lorries. A player is not kicked out of a game, Instead, he is "sent off."

In spite of the different usage of words, all Englishmen sound like intellectuals. They speak with a clipped speech and use inflections normally reserved for the upper class in this country.

The subway system in London is probably the best in the world. You can get anywhere in the city with ease using the subways and you don't have to worry about getting mugged. I took the subway to Canary Wharf which is the new financial center for London. Every businessman wore either a navy blue or black suit. I can honestly say that I don't recall seeing any other color suit. I might add that British businessmen are very well dressed.

Because of the exchange rate, it is very expensive for an American to visit England. An English pound is worth about 1.90 which makes everything almost twice as expensive. I am staying at a Holiday Inn Express which costs over $200 a night. Food costs about $50 a day with a hamburger costing almost $7 and a coke $2. I noticed that a new Corvette costs $100,000. When I was in Europe in 1969 I was living on $5 a day. This past week my living expenses have been $10 an hour.

The news here reflects the problems that exist between the Brits and the Muslim population. A Muslim woman was fired from being a teacher because she refused to remove her veil while teaching students in a grammar school. Another story noted that a prominent Muslim radical who was serving time in prison owned real estate property worth over $1 million dollars and was receving money from renters while in prison. There is definitely a schism between the Muslim population and the rest of the population in London.

I missed not being able to keep up with the baseball playoffs while in London. Baseball is ignored in Britain and is replaced by cricket which is somewhat similar to baseball. Soccer and rugby are the main sports here and if you walk into a pub there will be several games on television just as baseball is in the states. The fans are just as rabid. I was amused to see a dart game on television the other night. There was a crowd in attendance watching two blokes throw darts at a board just like in the pubs.

One of my favorite experiences while in London was visiting the National Gallery which houses some of the most famous paintings in the world. I marveled at the skill and precision of the Dutch masters and other painters of the 17th century. Their artistic skills make Norman Rockwell seem like a cartoonist. The biggest crowds, however, were for the Impressionists painters like Degas, Cezanne, and Monet. While I find the Impressionist paintings interesting, I especially admired the skill of the earlier painters of the 17th century. A Van Gogh painting that took one day to paint goes for $50 million dollars while a van Ruisdael that took months to paint will bring far less. Such is the subjective nature of art.

The best way to see London is to buy a $38 ticket on a double decker tourist bus, The tour lasts 2 hours and takes you to all of the places of interest. You can get off and on at any of the stops all day long and is a great way to get around the city.

The great old buildings in London gives the city a sense of majesty and reverence unlike any other city in the world. The tolling bells of Westminister Abbey sends chills down your spine not only because of their overwhelming sound and resonance produced by change ringing but also because they were first heard by Londoners in the 13th Century. The change ringing or campanology was used during the funeral of Princess Diana.

While I enjoyed visiting London again, as I get older I find that I miss the comforts of home, I look forward to getting back to Minonk where I can understand everyone's speech and the food is good and inexpensive while reflecting on the memories of a great city.