Whilst waiting for my bus to the airport, i started conversing with a stranger. He had missed the earlier bus. Ironically, he turned up 10min earlier than the scheduled departure time at the stop, just in time.. not to load his luggage and find himself a proper seat but to see the bus drive right past him. Obviously, he wasn’t at all pleased. My experiences with London bus drivers hasn’t exactly been positive either, so there was something in common already! No longer a stranger.. I found Brian was flying out to Jordan for a few days to attend a student conference titled “where east meets west” – a space for Muslim and Christian students to meet and share experiences. I was quite surprised, the notion of these two religions ‘sharing’ wasn’t exactly something I heard of everyday. He seemed thrilled to be a part of this and I was surprised to find out that this conference was hosting about 3000 youth from all over the world. Questions, opinions and thoughts followed and I ended up asking what he thought was the main differences between the American and British land.
Since public transport was how we began speaking he noted that despite rude drivers, the transport network was well spread out over London and added that it was possible to get to just about anywhere either by rail, bus or tube. In America, he said, public transport is inefficient. There is no way we can rely on it to take us places. Score? London 1 – America 0
He mentioned Britain as the epitome of propriety. London 2 – America 0, I thought? I noted a hint of of loathing in his tone with this mention though, so I asked him to explain. Turns out he felt as if personal communication in Britain was a little exaggerated and superficial to a certain extent. In restaurants, elevators, parks - There is no genuine interest in knowing about one another he said, everyone’s so uptight. In American he said.. we’re a little more relaxed. We don’t feel uptight at all. Equals I guess.. London 1 – America 1
Population density, was his last mention. There are many more people in Britain he said, cities are heavily crowded, roads are congested, and there are tall buildings everywhere. I thought that was the case with all cosmopolitan cities however his response was. Not at all, we have space back in the US, I LOVE space.
Unfortunately, this round of very interesting comparisons ended just then. The bus pulled in and he was off leaving us with a final score: London 1 – America 2.
Since public transport was how we began speaking he noted that despite rude drivers, the transport network was well spread out over London and added that it was possible to get to just about anywhere either by rail, bus or tube. In America, he said, public transport is inefficient. There is no way we can rely on it to take us places. Score? London 1 – America 0
He mentioned Britain as the epitome of propriety. London 2 – America 0, I thought? I noted a hint of of loathing in his tone with this mention though, so I asked him to explain. Turns out he felt as if personal communication in Britain was a little exaggerated and superficial to a certain extent. In restaurants, elevators, parks - There is no genuine interest in knowing about one another he said, everyone’s so uptight. In American he said.. we’re a little more relaxed. We don’t feel uptight at all. Equals I guess.. London 1 – America 1
Population density, was his last mention. There are many more people in Britain he said, cities are heavily crowded, roads are congested, and there are tall buildings everywhere. I thought that was the case with all cosmopolitan cities however his response was. Not at all, we have space back in the US, I LOVE space.
Unfortunately, this round of very interesting comparisons ended just then. The bus pulled in and he was off leaving us with a final score: London 1 – America 2.