"Be friendly to everyone. Those who deserve it the least need it the most".
Bo Bennett
Shopping
is a private affair in England. Mainly we do it on our own - but you
can bring a friend or two if you like. But shopping is kind of
invitation only. You wouldn't expect the whole of the second floor of
Selfridges to turn around and approve your purchase. However THAT is
exactly what happened to me. I was rather rattled I must say. I had to
stop and check to see if I was still in the same country.
If you live in England it's a simple three question procedure:
- Is Bruce Forsyth still presenting Strictly?
- Is everyone still convinced that Marks and Spencers Percy Pigs are the best sweetie ever?
- Does the world still stop for X Factor?
If the answer is yes, yes and yes, then yup you are in dear old Blighty and nothing fundamental has changed.
However,
post summer Olympics things do seem a little different. People seem to
be … what's the polite way of putting this... INVOLVED.
Now I'm not ranting about this. Lord knows some days the British reserve get's right up my hooter and I wanna scream "For the love of Monkeys! WHAT will it take for you people to get amongst it!!!" But lately everyone at least in my fair city seems to want to chat, help, advise and even HUG! What on earth is going on?
Eye-contact
- the great British no-no seems to be everywhere. Folks are wandering
about their business head high , catching your eye and smiling. People
are happily offering seats to you on the bus or train without you having
to pretend you are pregnant or injured! Random conversations with total
strangers are entered into willy-nilly and you can't hesitate in the
street without some helpful soul approaching you ready to offer
directions. It's all terribly lovely... but so not the England I'm used
to. Correction - the London I'm used to (they've always been a bit 'Midsomer' in the provinces).
Yep - for a fortnight, London hosted the greatest show on Earth, did it our
way (no pale facsimiles of Hollyweird Razzmatazz or the military
precision of our eastern neighbours) - just a show of great
organisation, fantastic hospitality and Brit-centric displays of what WE
do best. When it ended, we all felt a little smug, a lot proud and a
bit more....munificent. Yep, our city (which face facts, this time last
year was on fire and hurling rocks at store windows) rose to the
challenge, rebuilt a deprived area of town, spruced up a lot of areas
that didn't even realise they were in need of a bit of attention, and
opened not only it's doors but it's heart to the globe. We did good -
the world called us" the hosts with the mosts" and claim Our Olympics was the best ever.
Usually in London, (and we are used to hosting a lot of folk for this event or that),
once the gig is up... it's business as usual. We just go back to how
things were before. Even after August 2011's extreme events - how did we
know it was over? We opened our front doors and the atmosphere was back
to normal, we didn't need the tv or radio to tell us... we were back to
bustling about in our private spheres, doing our business and having to
make a grand gesture to attract the attention of even those we know.
Business as usual is what we do, whether it be Royal Weddings or Summer
Riots - we just go back to normal the moment the event ceases.
However
- as my experience in Selfridges shows, there are lingering remnants
of the liberal attitude my co-city dwellers fostered for the games. The
games dragged us all in, so after a fortnight of hosting an extra 2
million visitors, there aren't too many of London's 8,174,100 regular
residents who haven't been an active host even in the smallest way.
And unlike August 2011, rather than return to normal, we've
deliberately let some of what has passed linger on. (Suppose we better
as part two; the Paralympics, kick off in 7 days!) However despite the
fact all the sporting venues are a hive of activity as they get
refreshed in look, function and signage - life should have returned to normal since the main event ended.
But instead, I try on a pair of shoes in the mecca that is the 2nd floor of the best shop on the planet... and everyone
on the floor want to talk to me about them. Eye contact. Smiling.
Uninvited dialogue. And on at least two occasions... actual TOUCHING
took place.
Now these were not the usual parade of summer visitors to our city, no
...these were The 'just popping out' shopping office workers, The ladies
who lunch, The up from the home counties to shop in town, basically
-the parade of every day Brit that normally you would have to have under
contract before you got even a peep from them!
This
NOT your routine London experience. Random people do not routinely
pitch in to help me choose shoes for a forthcoming wedding! Most of the
time you are hard pushed to get the attention of the Sales Assistant and
she's being PAID to help! But … there I was, trying on shoes with
complete strangers-whose accents declare them UK resident - offering
unsolicited advice and assistance. Fabulous! (And I must say - the
girl on her lunch break who was doing a pre-payday reckky, Thank you! I wouldn't not have even considered Nicholas Kirkwood, actually I had never heard of him!)
But hang on UNSOLICITED advice from complete strangers who are
residents of the city? I thought I was in London, I thought I was on
Oxford Street... Okay, I started to panic! - AM I STILL IN THE UK?
To calm myself I did the three part character check:
- Yes- the new season of Strictly will be presented by Sir Bruce when it returns in Autumn
- Yes - the nation is still obsessed with Marks and Spencers Percy Pigs (Over £10million worth of sales per annum!)
- And okay not so many viewers tuned into X Factor on its return to TV last weekend, but it was STILL all people were talking about come Monday morning!
Yep this is still Blighty!
We
are still a nation of contrary buggers! We still drink too much and
smoke purely out of a misconceived solidarity to an oppressed minority! (We do NOT like to be TOLD, so banning things just makes us want to do it more)
but we harangue the government to curb our excesses. We still have a
startling ignorance of other cultures and resort to Xenophobia at the
first opportunity ("Oh
American's are just too loud" , "I love France, it's just the French I
can't stand", "Eastern Europeans work EVERY hour so we can't compete")
but we are so proud that over 300 languages and dialects are spoken in
London as WE are the world most international city. We love our open
spaces but spend most of our time parked in front of our telly's in our
much loved living rooms (if an Englishman's home is his castle then his sofa is his throne!). And yes, we are friendly, humorous , hearty and a plain-speaking people while being physically repressed and very reserved (we know we're a difficult bunch of people to figure out.)
However,
it is just a few days since we as a city of over 8 million souls got
the opportunity to act like a small village for a while.
Instead
of bustling about, sighing deeply when a visitor stands on the wrong
side of the escalator and blocks traffic - we've learned to tap them
gently on the shoulder, smile and show them pleasantly the error of
their ways. We've learned (with some restraint) not to ask Americans to
repeat the name of the Square their Embassy is in - simply for our own
amusement - but just give them directions and send them happily on
their way. We've learned to budge up on seating and nestle an unknown
thigh beside ours so everyone gets to sit. We've stopped aiming our
sights into the mid distance and actually met peoples glance and with a
smile. We've even shared a Percy Pig or two with complete strangers when
queuing feels more like just standing and letting time pass
interminably.
And in case you think that what happened in Selfridges was a one off... it so was not!
Fact is Londoners have
been chatting to strangers (wrapped in even stranger flags) and realised
that even without a formal introduction, most folk are actually quite
okay. And we like what we've learned so it seems we just can't stop.
After the purchase, I'm sitting on train chugging through the Sauff
Lundin Suburbs on my way back to base with a lovely big yellow
Selfridges bag next to me. I find myself smiling while stroking the bag
and bending the corner to look at the shoe box within. The lady seated
across the aisle catches my eye.
"Bin shopping love?"
"Yeah - shoes for a wedding" I hear myself say
"Ooh! " She says "Can I see?"
She moves over next me and without thinking I produce the shoes.
For
the next 20 minutes we chat (never leaving the subject of the shoes but
I received a fantastic tip about socks and hairdryers to make shoes comfy
to wear at an all day wedding!). Then I disembark, wishing her a lovely
day. No formal introductions, in fact we have no idea of each others
names, I don't even know where she was travelling to (though her accent
was similar to mine so I guess she's a local) and we never ONCE talked
of the weather! Quite simply, she initiated a chat with a complete
stranger who reciprocated and a pleasant time was had by all.
I'm not complaining - I got a great pair of hoofs and a great tip to
ensure my trotters last the course! - but it is rather strange for
London. In the post Olympic rosy light, London has a complete
disregard for the perils of talking to strangers.
I
have no idea if this after-glow will last much longer - we're not our
cousins over the pond, we're not a gushy chatty people - especially to
random strangers! But while it's on, it is rather lovely but I am
relieved that some things have remained the same.
Brucey WILL be back in the autumn. M & S Percy Pigs are STILL the nations
favourite... and WHAT the hell was that orange thing on the X Factor
that can't talk properly?!
The JaxWorld Blog can be followed on Twitter- @JaxWorldBlog
Or you can join over 7000 fans of The JaxWorld Blog on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/The.JaxWorld.Blog
Thanks for continuing to vote for JaxWorld as the Best Blog about
Stuff and for ALL your support that has made this blog such a huge
success.
Tell us the tip using the hairdryer please Jax, as I'm off to a wedding reception this Friday
ReplyDeleteWas the orange thing Tulisa by any chance?!?!
ReplyDelete