Scott: Final Thoughts

Time to close up this blog for good. Winging our way over the Atlantic, I'm excited to be going home, returning to the land where garbage bags open and sandwich bags close. The first thing I plan to do when I arrive home is shop for groceries. It will be a pleasure to look for products where they "ought" to be--at least according to American logic. Whatever I buy, be it sugar located next to flour, or mustard located next to ketchup, I'm going to buy a lot of it, just because I know I'm not limited to what I can carry. But that's not to say I'm not going to miss this place as well. Mostly, I'll miss our daily, hourly and minute-by-minute talks as a family about the interesting, funny and culturally diverse things we see and experience. For sure, I'll miss the tubes, busses and trains which take nearly all the hassle out of transportation. But most of all, I think I'll the vibrancy of the city, a byproduct of its multiculturalism, its culture of youth, its throngs of tourists from every corner of the globe and its financiers who seek to dominate the world from this tiny little spit of land. They are giants in their own way. If I've learned anything on this trip, it is that this "green and pleasant land" is a lot more than just a pastoral setting steeped in history. Sure, it's filled with quirky people with quirky ways, but don't let the batty lords, the tattling tabloids and bad-boy royals define British existence: Despite its pretensions, Britain is indeed the center of the world, just as it has been for centuries. If London were an organ, I'm pretty sure it would be the brain--the nerve center of the global body. As I return home to the "little finger" of the planet's, I'll treasure my time here. It has given me valuable space for reflection, relaxation and refinement of values and perceptions. Although I've been a student of British history and British culture all my life, I've always been baffled by the dualing reputations of Britain as a place of cutthroat capitalism and a culture of spirit-dulling socialism. I didn't think they could co-exist, but I've found that they do. Britain, it turns out, is a and of surprising innovation often held back from being all it could become by its deep-rooted reverence for traditions and institutions. Yet it is that very reverence which gives it the sense of rootedness that allows it to remain stable in the face of the gale winds of change. In some ways, I think Britain is all the America wants to be, and all that American's abhor wrapped up in a single place. It is always said that it is easiest to hate most the things you love best. That is the British-American relationship. Separated by history we are inextricably conjoined by culture and mutual fascination. Like a pair of siblings locked in eternal rivalry we disparage each other even as we stand together bound by ties of mutual affection and admiration. We are indeed, two branches growing from a common tree each producing fine fruit which tempts the palate of the rest of the world.

Laura's List: Things I'm Going To Miss

I'm going to miss the time I had with my husband and my little girls. I'm going to miss our wonderful flat. I'm going to miss my friend Kristin. And, last but not least, I'm going to miss the British Museum and Boots cosmetics. And I'm definitely going to miss the wonderful education that London afforded me on a daily basis. Here are some of the things that struck me.

11. The British are the most polite subway riders I've ever experienced (at least in comparison to Tokyo, New York, D.C., Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Paris). In particular, the women are very likely to give up a seat to an elderly person, a pregnant woman or a little girl who appears in danger of being accidentally trampled during rush hour.
10. The Brits definitely have a "glass half empty" attitude. I'd call them pessimists (though they would say "realist"), while we Americans are basically optimists.
9. London women are wonderfully fashion-forward. The men? No so much.
8. England is not known for its food. Nor should it be.
7. You can understand American culture and attitudes better for studying British history, culture and attitudes.
6. The iconic red phone booths were modeled after a tomb! Giles Gilbert Scott was inspired by the mausoleum that Sir John Soane designed for his beloved wife when she died in 1815.
5. Queen Elizabeth I and her half-sister, Queen Mary I, so different and so estranged in life were actually buried together (though not by choice) in a side chapel of Westminster Abbey.
4. Most of the museums in London are free. The British Museum, which boasts the Rosetta Stone, the largest collection of mummies outside of Cairo and the Elgin Marbles (which the Greek government would dearly love to have back) is an especially good bargain with zero admission!
3. The weather in London in March is fantastic -- moderate temperatures and sunny days. We didn't believe the guidebooks, but they were right. And with tourism at its lowest point in the year, it's an ideal time to visit.
2. The British do not talk to strangers. It's simply not done. If you trip and smack your head on the pavement, they will politely step around you. But they won't talk to you. Trust me. This is not a hypothetical.
1. The Brits love to queue. Seriously. It's in their blood. If you stop anywhere, pretty soon, you'll have 3 or 4 people lined up behind you. I've seen folks with one item wait 20 minutes in a grocery check-out line. In the U.S., we'll put that item down among the checkstand magazines and walk out after about 90 seconds. As one woman said to me, "Well if you wait in line, there must be something really fantastic at the front."