Dispatches from the North: My Rocky Relationship with London

If you are a frequent reader of Anglotopia you might pick up on my passive aggressive comments about London. You see, London didn’t make a very good first impression on me, and to be honest the second impression was even worse. My visits to London have always been short and a bit unconventional, so I know I have just never had the opportunity to see London the “right” way. I saw it just because I “had” to, but I have never actually explored it.

My First Trip to London- August 2006

Me and the man I eventually married, in the quintessential London photo

The first time I visited London I stayed with a family friend of my then-boyfriend (now husband) in his absolutely disgusting flat in Bermondsey, just yards away from the Millwall football ground. Now really, there isn’t much more I should need to say about why my first impression of London wasn’t very good. I don’t know how to say this gently without offending people, but I would liken it to someone visiting Chicago for the first time on vacation and staying in the projects of South Side Chicago. I am not saying there is anything wrong with the South Side, or with Bermondsey for that matter, but its an undeniable fact that its not the place you want to show someone to welcome them to your beloved city with so much to offer. Further to that, the flat I was staying in could have easily made it into an episode of “How Clean Is Your House?” so nothing about the experience was very pleasant.

I did enjoy seeing the sites of London, but we didn’t actually go into anything. We walked around and took the tube places, but we were on such a tight budget that we just didn’t get the chance to actually do anything. Also, its taken me some time to get my husband used to my style of traveling, at the time he still traveled like a single British teenager. To him, traveling meant to go somewhere like Spain or Bulgaria with “the lads” to a resort full of British people and pubs and drink until they fell over. My style of traveling is a bit more sophisticated, I go to a city with a lot of history and culture and spend most of my time in cathedrals, museums and restaurants. I don’t think he knew what to do, especially since London isn’t his city and so far from the type of place he was used to holidaying in. The one thing we did that I really loved was we took a London cab to Harrod’s. We only took the cab there because my dear husband and his friend, bless them, didn’t actually know where Harrod’s was. Imagine!

So that was it, the highlight of the whole trip was just going into Harrod’s and also it was the first time I had a proper donner kebab.

These experiences in themselves weren’t bad, just nothing “wow” and nothing really memorable. However, there was one bad moment that kind of soured me to London. We were at a crowded corner on Oxford street when I was suddenly felt up by an invisible person. They touched my hip, my rear, my waist, and my chest so fast I nearly didn’t notice, nearly being the operative word there because I most definitely DID notice although I never actually saw the offender. It was my first and only experience with a pick-pocket. Luckily my husband had all of my money tucked away in his front pocket, but it doesn’t change the fact that I was violated. They didn’t get anything, but I instantly felt unsafe in that city. I grew up between two of the most dangerous cities in America, Detroit and Flint, Michigan and I lived in Chicago for 3 years and never once felt unsafe or threatened. In that moment on a street lined with high end shops I instantly felt something I had never felt before and that was fear for my personal safety. I think its going to be really hard for London to gain back my trust after that experience.

My Second Trip to London- April 2007

Me and my close friend and traveling buddy Christine, at the Canning Town tube station near our hotel

My second trip to London was in some ways much better and in other ways, further contributed to my disdain. This time we stayed in a hotel (thank GOD!) although because we were again on a budget it was a hotel in Canning Town. I actually really enjoyed the hotel, it was spartan but very clean and the staff were really friendly as were the other guests. The only negative was that it was about an hour ride into the city and the DLR didn’t run quite as often as the regular tube lines run.

Here is the other major hitch, on Valentine’s day 2007 I slid on some ice in an alley near my apartment in Chicago and broke my leg. I got my cast off only a week before my trip to England so I was traveling around London with a cane and an air cast and I moved very slowly. Walking around London with a cane is not fun, and it really slowed us down so we didn’t get to see a whole lot.

Beyond the complications of getting around, the people of London really showed me their true colors and I was really disappointed in the way I was treated. One incident that is really vivid in my mind is when we got onto the tube one afternoon. The train wasn’t crowded by any means, there were just a couple people standing but all the seats were taken. I entered the train, struggling with my cane and unable to put a lot of weight on my right leg. I was regarded by most of the seated passengers, including some very able bodied young business men and they quickly glanced at me and returned to their papers and books and ignored me competely leaving me to attempt to stand on the tube and stay up without shifting my weight to my healing leg. I am not saying that I was entitled to their seats, but it does say a lot about the type of people you often find in London. In dramatic contrast my first day back in Chicago I boarded an overflowing bus to work, there were people completely stuffed in the aisle and it was full all the way up to the front next to the driver, but the moment I walked onto the bus with my cane three people offered me their seats. Its just a vast difference in kindness and hospitality and I am more used to the Midwest style of things where you help people out. I would always get up to offer my seat to the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women, children and anyone else less able than me and it just would have been nice to have had the same courtesy extended to me in London.

It wasn’t all bad on this trip though, I did get to see Wicked on the West End and it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it and I think the London shows are really top notch and wish I could afford to go see them all the time. Also, the major highlight was that this is the trip where my husband proposed to me. I knew he was going to propose because we had an engagement party planned for later that week but he still found a way to surprise me and it is one of the few good memories I have of London.

I feel really let down by the people of London, they certainly didn’t show me the type of hospitality I am accustomed to. You can’t say “Well, that is city life” because I lived in a very big city where the people are generally lovely. You also can’t say “That’s just Britain” because the British people everywhere but London are probably the most hospitable people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and living among. There is simply no excuse, London! I come away from my two trips to London feeling that the sites and the city itself are world-class, but the people are some of the worst I have encountered and really need an attitude adjustment.

Now Londoners, before you go grab your torches and pitchforks please wait until next week. In my post next week I will explain why I still firmly believe that London could be a city I could really love and appreciate and why I believe that underneath the rude and haughty Londoner exterior, there are still kind and hospitable British people lurking underneath just waiting to prove me wrong.

In next week’s Dispatches from the North… I will wipe the slate clean, forgive past transgressions and let you in on my plans to visit London for a third time determined to fall in love with it.