SCOTT MILLER
Overseas Columnist
Visions of rude Londoners pushing their way about on “The Tube” crept into my head as my airplane from Los Angeles crossed the English Channel. Although slightly nervous, coming from a small Oregon town of barely 3,000, I had resigned myself to the idea that I would get used to the London attitude. By the time I left next spring, I mused, I might even have the same manners.
But my first encounter with a Londoner literally dropped my jaw. Boy can pre-conceptions be wrong. The experiences I have had with the local people in London so far have been incredible. It suddenly gives me a new perspective on how people can and should act toward one another, even in major metropolitan areas. That idea is certainly one that I will keep with me, even after my plane touches down in the Oregon.
My first Londoner, a cab driver, was waiting for me in the Heathrow terminal. He looked as surly as any New York cab driver. I was a bit timid as I had not slept in more than 24 hours, and could not for the life of me understand his accent. On the walk to the car park, however, he grabbed my bags and immediately started joking around and asking me about myself.
Once we got onto the motorway, the ride only got funnier. He started going on rants about the other drivers, some things will never be lost in translation. He then proceeded to start giving me advice about the city; everything from which had the best drinks – to how to pick up English women. It hardly seemed like a typical cab ride.
Because South Kensington is even more extravagant and expensive than Malibu a friend and I got tips on where to get affordable food and drinks from the Pepperdine staff here. We then went to the student union at a near-by British school; Imperial College. Eventually, we started talking with the locals and we all got to know one another. As the student union was closing, two of our new acquaintances invited my friend and me out to another lounge. We obliged and went with them. Lucky we did too, if only we knew whose company we were sharing.
They bought us a couple rounds and we talked politics, culture and religion long into the night. We soon discovered that one of the men, Yoshi, was a physics lecturer at Imperial College, and the other man, Costas, was the IT handyman for the physics professor. Needless to say my friend and I were stunned that we were sharing drinks with physics staff, and that there was absolutely no condescension on their part. Instead these men showed genuine interest and enjoyment in just sharing a drink with us.
Along with these two particular examples, are a score of other experiences in which the local population has proved friendly and out-going, even to young and naive American students. The hospitality I have experienced here is like nothing like the attitude of any U.S. metropolis. It even rivals some of my small-town experiences growing up in Oregon.
This kind of courtesy and friendliness rubs off on one another around the city, even to the point that it is no longer exceptional for a cab driver to engage in conversation, or a professor at a leading university to buy drinks for some foreign students he just met.
It is not just commonplace, but expected for anyone who has a seat on the “Tube” to stand and give his or her seat to an elderly person, or to someone with a small child who cannot stand, it is expected. People do not even think about this kind of common courtesy that is so lacking in U.S. cities. While I’m sure there are rude and inconsiderate people here, I have yet to run into them. I find that instead of expecting people to act rude and inconsiderate, I am surprised when I come across someone like that. And try not to be too shocked if when I do return to the U.S., I accidentally call you mate. I rather like the lifestyle I’ve been learning in London.
09-27-2007
