Original date of post: November 23, 2013
On most days, when I put up a new blog post, it’s a documentation of something exciting that I’ve seen or done, filled with pictures and attempts at witty writing.
This is not one of those days.
Instead, I’ve decided to put together a compilation of several various little things I’ve noticed during my time in Great Britain. There will be few, if any, pictures, but I’ll still make a few attempts at humor. Enjoy!
Observation #1: Smoking is REALLY common in London (and in Paris, to a somewhat lesser extent). Seriously, everywhere I go in the city, at least a few people are lighting up. Even though cigarettes are really expensive here (twice the price of cigs in Salem, according to one of my smoker friends) and smoking laws are fairly strong (you aren’t allowed to smoke anywhere where someone works and may be forced to inhale the smoke; the only exception to this rule as far as I can tell are prisons and the stages of theaters), that doesn’t seem to stop the general populace from ducking outside for a smoke (neither does the fact that cigarette cartons in the U.K. have “SMOKING KILLS” printed noticeably on them). Rolling one’s own cigarettes also seem to be popular--on at least four separate occasions, I have seen someone break out rolling papers and tobacco leaves on the Tube. I know that big cities tend to have a lot of smokers, but I’ve never seen as many as London or Paris in my travels to New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco.
Quick additional vice-related note: Gambling is also surprisingly prevalent in London. Casinos and the like are advertised on the radio, lots of people play the lottery, and gambling arcades have been at almost EVERY mall and shopping center I’ve visited.
Observation #2: This isn’t so true now, but two months ago, there were advertisements for Grand Theft Auto V ALL OVER Great Britain, including in every single Tube station and on the side of every bus. Why the GTA love (according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it’s the best selling video game series there)? Simple: it’s actually a British game. Its developer, Rockstar North, is based in Scotland, meaning that this game series about being a professional criminal in urban America, where the police are corrupt, prostitutes (along with street musicians, burger joints, street vendors, vending machines, and your bed) give out health, and anyone can escape the law by going to sleep in his apartment, is apparently a British take on American life. Nowhere is GTA pride stronger than in Scotland, as this actual billboard from Edinburgh shows:
Super-fast note here: Remember how Billy Boyd (aka Pippin Took) played Banquo when I saw Macbeth (AT THE GLOBE)? Well, in the Wednesday of that week, this was matched by my trip to Westminster Abbey, where the audio tour I took was narrated by Jeremy Irons, aka Scar from The Lion King. Hearing the voice of a Disney villain showing me around ornate tombs in a massive church was one heck of an experience!
Observation #3: People in London speak ALL KINDS of languages with ALL KINDS of accents. While it’s true that English accents are undoubtedly the most common in this city (all the radio and YouTube ads over here feature them prominently), it’s also quite common to hear Scottish, Irish, French, German, Indian, and even American accents throughout the boroughs-and those are just the ones I recognize! Along with that, it’s not uncommon to hear people in London to have detailed conversations in languages I’ve never even heard of. As a result, it’s really easy to see why London has a well-deserved reputation for being a truly global city.
Observation #4: The Tube is REALLY clean and REALLY efficient (I’m using a lot of capitalization here, aren’t I?). Though Londoners love to grumble about the Tube, it has got to be the most reliable system of public transportation that I’ve ever seen and is a model of perfection!…that’s what I would have said a month ago. Unfortunately, due to several cases of people winding up on the tracks (which tend to back up lines), there have been occasional delays and occasions where entire lines are unusable for the day. I’m not sure why, but these delays tend to occur on the days when I either really want to get to the AHA center early (in order to study/print papers out) or have a theater obligation. That being said, I still consider the Tube to be a very effective and reliable way to travel long distances in a short amount of time. To top it off, most of the stations I’ve seen (Baker Street being the sole exception so far) are incredibly clean and well-lit, a complete contrast to the dark, dingy New York City Subway I grew up with. I’ll be sure to keep using it until the end of my time in London!
I hope you’re satisfied with this blog post, dear reader. For those disappointed in my lack of grisly stories, don’t worry! I’ve still got plenty of time here in England, and as long as I draw breath, I’ll continue to seek out elements of London’s dark past…but for those who still feel ripped off, I’ve included an addendum to one of my previous posts (in white). Enjoy!: Remember what I said in my post on Smithfield (“Octoberfest,” in case you haven’t seen it) about poisoners being boiled alive there in the Tudor Era? Well, the first such execution was especially nasty. The convict in question was Richard Rouse (his last name isn’t perfectly recorded--sources I’ve read about him also call him Richard Rice or Richard Roose), a cook who was convicted of petty treason, double murder, and attempted murder after he poisoned a batch of porridge meant for his master, the Bishop of Rochester, but which was eaten by members of the bishop’s family, resulting in sickness and death. According to one account (there are several, and they’re all nice and gruesome), he was placed in a cauldron of cold water, which was slung over a roaring fire. It took two hours for him to finally croak and several pregnant women present at the execution became violently sick. For future executions by boiling, authorities decided to show some “mercy” by having the water be already boiling when the condemned person was thrown in the pot. Justice, Tudor England style.
Modern reflections:
For those who can't tell, the title of this blog post is an homage to Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations by Al Franken. Given that Rush Limbaugh is now dead and Al Franken is now a somewhat disgraced former U.S. senator, this choice of reference is an interesting relic of the past.
My observations of British acceptance of gambling is a little funny now; due to the proliferation of fantasy sports betting (and Oregon's continued expansion of the local lottery), I've seen gambling-promotion billboards all over the roads from Tillamook to Salem and Portland. At this point, it feels that America (or at least Oregon) has more or less caught up with Britain in regards to gambling prevalence.
In retrospect, there's one more observation I didn't record here but could have. As such, here's a retroactive Observation #5: Armistice Day (November 11) was kind of a big deal in London. A lot of Londoners wore poppies as symbols of remembrance and there was a national moment of silence at 11am (the time of the formal WWI armistice) that a lot of people took seriously. I could have blogged about it in more detail on that date, but I felt that I didn't have what it took to reflect the sombre attitude of the day. The facts that I used self-deprecating blog post titles and wrote ghoulishly about executions gone wrong assure me that I made the right call.
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