L&L: Lille & London
I went to London last Friday to attend the annual Petronas students' meeting on Saturday. Everyone except Brian and Khairul came. We stayed in Bayswater at the Queen's Hotel. To be honest, it's a disgrace to the Queen's name. I could've sworn that I saw a cockroach running, twice!.
Before I came to France, I've always said that London would be my first out-of-France destination. But then I went to Bâle and Fribourg in Switzerland and Germany respectively, within my first month in Colmar. I nearly went to London end of 2004, but I had to cancel it in the last minute because I had problems with my papers. And eversince, the dream of going to London just waned away. Even after moving to Lille, which is just 1h40 from London, I have never thought of going there, even for a day trip just like going to Bruxelles, Paris or, in the future insyaallah, Amsterdam. And when this opportunity came, I felt like alahai, malasnya nak pergi London. Kena juagk ke?
Anyhow, it feels quite good to finally hear people speaking English without any weird accent. Oh wait, I take that back. It feels quite good to hear people speaking in English. And it feels good as well to be in a Liberalist economy once in a while. But then there're the drawbacks as well. Like when you're in London, if you've finished your drink from a bottle, I dare bet my money saying that you'll be holding your empty bottle for quite a while before actually throwing it away (unless of course you're one of those people who simply throw things away, no matter if it litters). And what's with the authoritarian attitude? Mind the gap! Look left! Mind the doors! Look right! Stand on the right! Walk on the left! Look both sides! I mean, I understand that the authority meant well. They want to help the people. But isn't that a bit too much? It's as if the people are so stupid to even have their own common sense.
The London Underground or the Tube is one of the first subway system in the world (if you ask me, they managed to buld it by using the money they earned after plundering countries like Malaysia). But it's not the best. Already, it has long names for their lines. Jubilee, Bakerloo, Paddington, Waterloo and City, Hammersmith and City. Can't they use numbers and letters like the rest of the world? It's very unfriendly to tourists. I can just imagine people from, let's say, Bulgaria or Mongolia, trying to figure out which line to take. But I have to say it has the best trains for the Tube. To me, the perfect Subway would be, as comfortable as London's, as fast as Lille's and as well-connected as Paris'.
Yesterday, two unexpected Malaysian vistors arrived in Lille. Ahahaha. They missed their flight. I know it's bad to laugh at people's misfortunes. So I won't. But let's just say they missed their flights because they were held up at the security check caused by two metallic objects, containing a very highly addictive (to certain people. I know one addict in Grenoble) substance (no, don't worry, not drugs, but something more common than you thought). So, as a consequence, today Syazwan and I took them to see around Lille before sending them of this afternoon. It's good for them for them to see how Lille looks like, as they have to choose their cities to go to next year, and it's good for us, as we have never really taken pictures around Lille.
Today I discovered a new shop called Thomas Green which sells english products. So things that the French normally find disgusting like Cadbury, peanut butter, baked beans and pudding, can be found here. And I've found a cake that a friend of mine said is ver delicious. I've seen this cake in the in-flight menu on Ryanair and Easyjet, but they always give me the same excuse Stok Habis. So I bought the cake, and no kidding, it's sooo good, and with only 1g of fat in it. Even Syazwan, Zarf and Adrian said it was good. Haaa, lepas ni taulah mana nak beli makanan english yang pelik-pelik.
I saw this very ingenius advertisment in London the other day. Let's see if you can guess what is 'it' correctly by the end of the sentences.
Most of us do it in bed
Some do it on chairs
Some even while standing
Women have more problems about it than men
We tend to have more problems with it as we get older
As we age we tend to do it less and less
Most people feel unease when they don't do it after more than 24 hours
Sleep. Find out how to sleep better. Tune in to ITV next Tuesday.
Before I came to France, I've always said that London would be my first out-of-France destination. But then I went to Bâle and Fribourg in Switzerland and Germany respectively, within my first month in Colmar. I nearly went to London end of 2004, but I had to cancel it in the last minute because I had problems with my papers. And eversince, the dream of going to London just waned away. Even after moving to Lille, which is just 1h40 from London, I have never thought of going there, even for a day trip just like going to Bruxelles, Paris or, in the future insyaallah, Amsterdam. And when this opportunity came, I felt like alahai, malasnya nak pergi London. Kena juagk ke?
Anyhow, it feels quite good to finally hear people speaking English without any weird accent. Oh wait, I take that back. It feels quite good to hear people speaking in English. And it feels good as well to be in a Liberalist economy once in a while. But then there're the drawbacks as well. Like when you're in London, if you've finished your drink from a bottle, I dare bet my money saying that you'll be holding your empty bottle for quite a while before actually throwing it away (unless of course you're one of those people who simply throw things away, no matter if it litters). And what's with the authoritarian attitude? Mind the gap! Look left! Mind the doors! Look right! Stand on the right! Walk on the left! Look both sides! I mean, I understand that the authority meant well. They want to help the people. But isn't that a bit too much? It's as if the people are so stupid to even have their own common sense.
The London Underground or the Tube is one of the first subway system in the world (if you ask me, they managed to buld it by using the money they earned after plundering countries like Malaysia). But it's not the best. Already, it has long names for their lines. Jubilee, Bakerloo, Paddington, Waterloo and City, Hammersmith and City. Can't they use numbers and letters like the rest of the world? It's very unfriendly to tourists. I can just imagine people from, let's say, Bulgaria or Mongolia, trying to figure out which line to take. But I have to say it has the best trains for the Tube. To me, the perfect Subway would be, as comfortable as London's, as fast as Lille's and as well-connected as Paris'.
Yesterday, two unexpected Malaysian vistors arrived in Lille. Ahahaha. They missed their flight. I know it's bad to laugh at people's misfortunes. So I won't. But let's just say they missed their flights because they were held up at the security check caused by two metallic objects, containing a very highly addictive (to certain people. I know one addict in Grenoble) substance (no, don't worry, not drugs, but something more common than you thought). So, as a consequence, today Syazwan and I took them to see around Lille before sending them of this afternoon. It's good for them for them to see how Lille looks like, as they have to choose their cities to go to next year, and it's good for us, as we have never really taken pictures around Lille.
Today I discovered a new shop called Thomas Green which sells english products. So things that the French normally find disgusting like Cadbury, peanut butter, baked beans and pudding, can be found here. And I've found a cake that a friend of mine said is ver delicious. I've seen this cake in the in-flight menu on Ryanair and Easyjet, but they always give me the same excuse Stok Habis. So I bought the cake, and no kidding, it's sooo good, and with only 1g of fat in it. Even Syazwan, Zarf and Adrian said it was good. Haaa, lepas ni taulah mana nak beli makanan english yang pelik-pelik.
I saw this very ingenius advertisment in London the other day. Let's see if you can guess what is 'it' correctly by the end of the sentences.
Most of us do it in bed
Some do it on chairs
Some even while standing
Women have more problems about it than men
We tend to have more problems with it as we get older
As we age we tend to do it less and less
Most people feel unease when they don't do it after more than 24 hours
Sleep. Find out how to sleep better. Tune in to ITV next Tuesday.
3 Comments:
hehe... betul gak ; the tube has long names for their lines....
I thought all the reminder "mind the gap" etc was to help the visually impaired, not to insult people who can see...
i agree with you on that, Nectra. But only on the announcements that they make at certain stations, and not those signs that they paint on the platform.
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