Soundscape #40: "When A Man Is Tired Of London, He Is Tired Of Life"

Phone booths on some street, May 2007.

There is something inherently incredible about London. On the surface it's like every other big city on the planet: busy, overcrowded, indifferent, paranoid. People are always in a rush and it seems that everyone's only looking out for number 1. London's tube is a joke; The trains are old and rickety and there's no aircon in the carriages. I try to make it a point to go to the toilet before getting on the trains just in case of signal delays. And they happen often enough too. I'm always coming across service announcements and updates. Once, the train I was in actually bypassed a station because "it was too crowded." Similarly, the entire Northern line service was actually cancelled one sunday for "engineering works." I can imagine how people back at home would go apeshit at something like that but Londoners seem to take it in their stride.

People always talk about the dreariness of London but it didn't rain much the entire 8 days we were there. I was pretty disappointed. Everyone else was so grateful for the "pleasant" weather; the hotel staff were telling us that we brought the singapore sun with us...we didn't find that funny at all.

I like that people in London are polite to a fault (most are, anyways). They actually smile back when you smile at them and are probably not thinking that you are mad. People queue up to take the bus here (by the road, not an interchange) and there's a disturbing sense of order on the escalators: everyone stands to the right and let others pass them on the left. I like that it's relatively easy to just talk to a stranger on the tube or the bus. I like the free papers in the tube stations and how people will leave them in the trains for other people. I like how walking down Oxford/Bond street, I'd find 3 different branches of the same shop on the same street. It's crazy deja vu and as I've learnt the hard way, not a good landmark to find your way back!

I'm going to sound like a travel catalog if I don't stop; let's just say that the ludicrously expensive prices of everything in London—a can of coke light diet coke is about S$4.50 and you have to pay 60p (S$1.80!) to go to the toilet—are not going to stop me from going back a third time.



Playlist:
1. (0:00) Interpol - C'mere (Antics)
2. (3:10) Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day (The Life Pursuit)
3. (7:14) The Clash - London Calling (London Calling)
4. (10:33) The Go! Team - The Power Is On! (Thunder, Lightning, Strike)
5. (13:47) Malajube - Ton Plat Favori (Tromp L'oeil)
6. (16:19) Spoon - The Way We Get By (Kill The Moonlight)
7. (19:00) Jason Collett - I'll Bring The Sun (Idols Of Exile)
8. (22:32) Of Montreal - My British Tour Diary (Satanic Panic In The Attic)
9. (24:40) White Stripes - Hotel Yorba (White Blood Cells)
10. (26:50) The Raveonettes - Heartbreak Stroll (Chain Gang Of Love)
11. (29:17) Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The U.K. (Born In The U.K.)
12. (31:54) The Mendoza Line - Will You Be Here Tomorrow? (Fortune)
13. (35:05) Yo La Tengo - My Little Corner Of The World (I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)
14. (37:30) Gene - London, Can You Wait? (Olympian)