London: Delayed

Well, I've been in London for almost a month now, and I haven't written any blogs. I really meant to, but I never knew what to write, so I'll just let it fly with scattered observations on British life as I know it.

Walking around London requires a lot more vigilance than in New York, because streets here aren't straight and often change names at unspecific intervals. You need your "London A to Z" on you at all time to make sure you are passing Cavendish Square and not Russell Square. That being said, it is ultimately more rewarding because I feel so comfortable in almost every neighborhood in New York, and here I am constantly assaulted with new images and sounds. There is a charm in how old and elegant virtually everything is here. Imagine if 75% of New York had the design of the West Village, and that's something of what it's like. This is right up my aesthetic alley, and I have to stop myself from takin pictures of every building that looks like that, reminding myself that I already have some shots of it. I love it.

British accents are not all what you imagine. As an American, it would be easy to assume that everyone in London speaks like Richard Burton, but the variety of London accents is astounding. Across the pond, we assume that everyone in England went to Cambridge and expect them to sound as such, but I find the phoenetic assortment exciting. I have picked up small British speech patterns simply by immersion. I say "you lot" for "you guys", "about" for "around", and "colonies" for "America". Also, the more British people I interact with, the more conscious I become of my own accent. British English, to me, sounds very clipped and precise, whereas American English, particularly that spoken where I am from, tends to be nasal and lets all the sounds in a word whine together until they are indistinguishable. It is very slack-jawed, floppy tongued way to speak. I don't want to be one of those guys who spends 4 months in England and comes back sounding like Jeremy Irons, but some change in my speech will be natural, and I hope it is permenant--it will add some verve to my speaking.

British women are, contrary to popular belief, rather pretty. Italian and French women get a lot of attention, and rightfully so, but just walking around London and sitting in cafes and bars, you see a lot of beautiful English roses about. Plus, they tend to be quick with a joke, which is a sure way to my heart.

British people, refined and classy as we imagine them to be, are obsessed with celebrity news, gossip, and trash reality shows. There are more celebrity gossip magazines here than there are mirrors at a Kate Moss party (oh, British humor is often very centered around schadenfreude.) I can't believe that a country that produces such quality journalism as BBC News, The FT, and The Economist also cranks out Heat, Hello, and OK! It's a duality, people I've met and spoken to around London seem just as happy to discuss Jordan and Kerry Katona as they are to ruminate on the Danish cartoon scandal. Generalists: my kind of people.

American goings on are not very big news here, which I kind of like. I find it somewhat satisfying that I can walk around all day, look at headlines on the front page of The Guardian or The Times (the London Times, the first one) and see news that has absolutely nothing to do with me or America. Here, people were pretty wrapped up with pedophiles in teaching positions and similar such scandals, surely no time to worry about Scooter Libby or Jack Abramoff. If I want American news, I have to look for it. But I'm ok being somewhat removed from the US and it's news cycle, it will make for a fun integration period when I return.

Finally, I don't miss any thing about the States, but I do miss my friends. London would be a totally different, and I think pretty cool, experience were my crew here. But as someone said "absinthe makes the heart grow fonder." Or something like that, I was pretty hammered when that homeless guy said that.

Cheers.