1 post tagged “england”
A couple weeks back I took a very short trip to London and greater England. The fact that I haven't posted anything yet on it probably communicates my weak impressions of my the trip. I think how short it was and how BIG London is both contributed to my overall dismay and confusion throughout the three days I was there. Luckily I was able to meet up with some people from another band on Burnt Toast Vinyl, who quickly became friends and were a little better at leading me through the city. The weather was bad most of the time, and while I was there, there was a sense of dread growing upon me. It stemmed first from the cameras perched above me literally everywhere I went. It was strengthened by the thought that the reason I couldn't find a trashcan in London the whole first day was due to fear of terrorists placing bombs in them. It was solidified by the constant stories and visual witness of an untamed and expanding phenomenon of bullying among the young, known as "chavs" in Great Britain -- youth who fall in with bad crowds at as young as twelve so as not to be bullied by them, begin donning hoods and masks at night and roaming the streets, mugging people and robbing houses and businesses, from London to the tiny towns like Deal, another places I visited, and eventually, if they aren't somehow rescued and rehabilitated, they grow into bigger, meaner, and much more violent chavs. The CCTV cameras everywhere reminded me immediately of Orwell's 1984. While to be sure it has been esp. recently effective in diverting terrorist attacks in London and Scotland, I really would've thought the nation that was home to Orwell and his prophecies (obviously critiquing that very nation at the time) could never allow for the constant surveillance of everything you do everywhere you go. The chavs phenomenon somehow fit with the overblown mental image I've developed over the years as an ignorant yet imaginative American youth caught up in books & films like The Lord of the Flies. Lastly it was hard to really see anything because of how expensive England is. And what really got me is the things I was most interested in seeing -- the churches -- were the most expensive!
Had I had more time and a better idea of how to use the labyrinthine underground system, I suspect my trip to London would've come out much better. But as it was -- gray, tiring, extremely busy both by the enormity of traffic and the swell of people everywhere I went, as well as dread-full -- I have to say it was the least of my trips abroad since coming to Europe. The bad weather and weariness kept me from really taking too many pictures, or seeing the right angle or lighting for a really good one. So there's just a few here I'm really happy with. Click on the picture to see a description.
Trip to Deal, on the east coast of Kent with the English Channel, which was a good "deal" more pleasant than London. ;) Here I hung out and got to know James & Ollie, two guys from Yndi Halda, and a few other good folk, as well.
Three important pics on the trip home (flying into Salzburg):
