by Wesley
Home >> Postcard from London: Caught off Guard
As the bus travelled on the left side of the road from Gatwick to Queen’s Gate, I imagined Hyacinth Bucket would step out at any moment with a quaint British hello and invite us over for tea and scones. The hotel was uber-British, even the smell, our guide had just the accent we were expecting, and at the sound of “mind the gap,â€? we rejoiced because we were in London, home of the Queen and the Queen’s English.
This time I loved London just as much, but for very different reasons. It was not the quaint grove of Britishness I remembered but an almost perfect blend of everything I love in a city.
The first thing I was thrilled to see was my language. The effect that seeing and hearing your own language (even if mine is not the Queen’s English) again has on you is amazing. You don’t have to think about what you’re going to say; it just comes out. You read signs without even thinking. I know Spanish. I know Basque. But they’re not my languages. I imagine this happens to most people.
Another thing I was happy to see was the vast multiculturalism a place like London has to offer. There were people from every country, every city, every neighbourhood in the world and nobody cared. Nobody looked at us. Nobody said “Look, they’re Spanish,â€? or “He’s American.â€? They don’t have names for us like “guiris.â€? Everyone went about their business in their own world. It’s not being cold; if I had a question, people were always helpful in answering it. They simply leave you alone if you don’t need contact with them.
A true breath of fresh air was the silence on public transport. There was no chattering, no music on trains, just the sound of the pages of newspapers and books being turned. The only people you could hear were the Italian- and Spanish-speakers. It must be genetic.
I could go on for hours and, of course, London does have its flaws, but I will close with my final observation, perhaps the one that intrigued me most.
I had never seen the changing of the guard. I did not know what to expect. I had no idea what they would do. Perhaps the guards will just change places and go on with their duties. Perhaps there will be fanfares and soldiers and gunshots and Her Majesty will step out and wave to the sunstroke-affected crowds. It was neither, but a little of both. There was a parade of sorts and then some music by a band. I didn’t recognise any of the songs so I didn’t pay much attention. I was innocently standing on tiptoes trying to see something. They did carry off one poor band member who had fainted, which, so far, had been the most interesting event of the morning. Then suddenly I heard a familiar tune. I was caught completely “off-guard.â€? Ethel Merman. There’s NO business like SHOW business like NO business I knooooooow… What? This is Buckingham Palace. Where is the pomp and circumstance? Show business? I had to listen further. Show tunes! Yippee! Absolutely the wrong place and time for them but who doesn’t love a show tune? But what broke the straw on the camel’s back was a West Side Story selection. Is Buckingham Palace really the place to play “I like to be in America, okay by me in America?â€? What ever happened to God save the Queen and rule Britannia and those feet in ancient times and all that jazz? Show business sells, I suppose. Pomp, apparently does not.
Pomp or no pomp, London, I’ll be back.
Released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeriv
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
For full licence description, go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.1/es/deed.en
Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2006-08-10 11:00:00 +0200
Copyright (C) ITT (http://www.itt.es) and Planet Lingua (http://www.lingua.es)
We have more weekly letters by Wesley
Poll for this weekly letter
Have you ever been to London?
Licencing
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
(click the above link for more information)
Add a comment
What a funny soundtrack for a trip to London! The soundtrack of my memories of a 1960s trip to London is THE SOUND OF MUSIC, because I was taken to see the stage version. I had not yet seen the film. “Doe a deer, a female deer…” Another, much later London trip is all Queen in my memory box because Freddie Mercury died and the news was all over the place. A trip must have a soundtrack. (Otherwise, stay home.)
My first trip to London was on a school trip when I was 17 too! After doing the “official” part of our trip (going to the Science Museum – which was great), we were given three hours to do with as we wished. While most of the students went to the pub, my friends and I decided to see how many famous landmarks we could get to, on foot, in three hours. We managed to see quite a few – Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral and so on. The biggest disappointment however was the famous rotating triangular sign outside Scotland Yard – on television it had always looked huge, but in reality it was really small!
...I was only there myself a couple of weeks ago Wesley, but you’ve “given me ganas” to go back again for another visit!
Is there a word to express “the positive sensation that you feel when you hear – or interpret – positive comments about the place or area where you’re from”??
But I can’t resist asking you…how exactly (or “roughly”) did your hotel “smell British”??
The mind boggles…I wonder if my nostrils will…
I remember a song from years ago…
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner,
That I love London so.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I think of her wherever I go.
I get a funny feeling inside of me
Just walking up and down.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I love London Town.
All together now!
My first trip to London was last January. It was a very important week in London because of the whale who lost his mum in the ocean and ended up in the Thames. We heard about it in the Globe Theatre, so from the big window of the Tate Modern I looked out for her. But she didn’t swim by. I only saw her the next day while buying a pancake near Big Ben. And the next day, she died. Poor poor whale!
Thank you all for your great comments…
1) Everything needs a soundtrack. I often give certain situations music, perhaps because I am crazy. I had to stop listening to music on public transport because I felt like I was in movie and risked missing my stop. Freddie Mercury (along with Montserrat Caballé, of course) happens to be part of my soundtrack when in Barcelooooonaaaaaaa.
2) When I went to London, they didn’t let me in any pubs because I wasn’t old enough (and apparently didn’t physically look any older…) so missing out on monuments wasn’t an option. That was left to the teachers after we went to bed. Every morning they had complaints of headaches. Hmm…I wonder why. Mentioning pubs does lead me to something else and that is dumb tourism. By dumb tourism I mean going somewhere different to do the exact same things you do in your own village. What’s the point? Three hours to see London? Wow.
3) I don’t know about your word, Jeremy. It’s like homesickness but good. Hmmm…have to think on that one. And the British smell (don’t worry, none of you smell like that; it’s for places) is impossible to describe. I don’t know what it even is. But the next time I go, I will bring some back for you to see (smell?). It’s sort of an oldish, lavenderish, woodish smell.
4) That song is going to be on the soundtrack of my next London visit. I will sing it loudly on the Tube.
5) Did you like the Tate Modern? I’ve only seen the outside. And no whales this time… By the way, is the Thames salty? Or just dirty?
Hilarious to see the guards changing to the tune of the Broadway musical and film “West Side Story”. Or would it be “West END Story”?
The London soundtrack for me would definitely be The Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls” – a song that’s turning 20 this year! I’d walk around a busy street of London imagining I was one of the people in the background of the video of “West End Girls”.
“In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
West end girls
West end girls”
Hello,
I don’t know London. It’s one of my future trips. I’d like to visit the City, England, Scothland, and also Ireland, but by the moment I don’t have done it. I think that it is a easy trip: you can find hotels, restaurants, places to visit and to know without problems. Going there it is like to be at home, everybody accept you as you are, and nobody ask you where are you from.
If you like to travel, it is one of the most important things that you can find: the different ways of live of the natives, the contrast with your way of live, but also that they accept you as you are. We are the same, but we are also different, and to understand this is important to know people.
I think that my city, Madrid, is also like this. Here there is a lot of people from everywhere of Spain, and also from everywhere of the World, and we have always accept them. And this like to me.
Grettings
Conchi Calvo
I’ve been twice in London. The first one was 2 years ago and the second one last month.
I wanted to go to London since I was a child because I studied English, among other subjects, and I dreamed about going to London and listening and speaking in English. I couldn’t go and I just forgot my old dream. Two years ago, my workmates organised a short travel to London. I gave my name at once.
London was just as I imagined. The red double-decker buses, the red telephone cabins, the houses as I used to see on TV, people of all sort of colours going and coming or working there, High Park, Convent Garden, Buckingham Palace,…. Yes, I saw the change of the guard but there wasn’t any music there, Big Ben,….
I loved them so much though they were very few days.
I went to Margate last July with other ten teachers from The Basque Country. We went there to improve our English and decided to spend a weekend in London. This time we went to see a musical: the Phantom of the Opera. We enjoyed it very much though we understood only few words. The music was great and the effects carried in the stage were wonderful.
I love these cities like London or Madrid were you can go and lose yourself and nobody cares about you. But I don’t think I would like to live there. I prefer smaller places to live.
By the way, thank you very much Donal for the song. I’ve listened to it and sung several times.
Have a good time,
Lourdes
Hi Wesley,
I really enjoyed your postcard from London! I’m from the UK, and always find it interesting to hear an ‘outsiders’ point of view!
I’m interested in using the letter as part of a university project, and have some questions concerning the copyright. If you could email me at roxyibbetson@gmail.com, I would love to discuss this further!
Hope to hear from you soon,
Roxanne