Being a Londoner

I don’t think I could ever get used to how loud the sirens are here. The fire alarm in my building is quite startling, and I jump when the driver of an ambulance or cop car turns it’s sirens on while I am walking past on the sidewalk. All alarms just seem so much louder than they are in the states. Another traffic topic to note is how quickly I got used to the cars coming from the other direction. Within a few days looking right became habit. My dad was a bit worried. “When you first get there, be careful crossing the street. You hear all these stories about Americans visiting Europe who get hit by a car coming from an unfamiliar direction.” To his credit, when I was little, I used to give my parents quite a fright by running out into the street without looking. However, that’s not the whole reason one would get hit by a car here. A big part of the reason is that cars don’t stop for pedestrians here like they do in the states. They just barrel on through the crosswalks, occasionally slowing down but rarely stopping for people to walk across. I have had people kindly stop for me, but more often they won’t.

It’s also a good thing I don’t bike around here because although my parents taught my sister and I bike etiquette, they signal with the right hand instead of the left! This of course makes complete sense given the origin of the hand signals. Before cars had blinkers and lights people stuck their hands out the window to alert other drivers of turning or stopping. Given that drivers here sit on the right side of the vehicle, they would have used their right hand. Thus, as I have witnessed cyclists to do, they signal with their right hands.

Despite all of this I finally feel a bit more like a Londoner, which probably has a lot to do with my most recent purchase of a black quilted jacket, complete with corduroy elbow patches! Black is the new black around here, and elbow patches are all the rage. On my way to and from Sainsbury’s to find some things I need for my upcoming trip, I felt like I fit in much better not wearing my red North Face coat. I do love that red coat but the past couple of months I’ve been that American wearing brightly coloured outerwear. So now that it’s been two and a half months and we are going to be travelling, I have finally found myself a black jacket.

Yes, we are off to Dublin soon! Followed by Barcelona, Paris, Prague, Vienna, and Lucern, all before coming back here for part of third term to finish papers (of which I have two) and take final exams (of which I have none!) before Europe Trip Part II (as we are calling it). It seems that the backpack my cousin Christine lent me for this trip is going to see lots of places and be very useful, thanks Christine! I also get to see a friend, Liz, who is arriving here tomorrow and she is joining us for our adventure! I can’t wait to see Liz and show her around London, a city which I have grown to feel quite at home in. Although not as lovingly as my own home, don’t worry Grandma Betty!

Have a wonderfully marvellous day, cheers! ~Laura