Taking Part In British Culture

Our educational requirements out of the way for the day, we decided to treat ourselves to a McDonald's lunch and shopping on Oxford Street. Cultural purists will be appalled that we still occasionally sneak out to McD's here in the U.K. After all, how does that further the cultural experience. In truth, we aren't exactly lonely at McD's. The Brits like it every bit as much as the Americans, so its hardly an American institution. Secondly, the ability of our tastebuds to endure a foreign cuisine only stretches so far. Eventually, even we need a taste of home. Once we were done with our Happy Meals and Big Macs, we headed up Oxford Street to a more culturally appropriate experience: shopping at Primark, a landmark London retailer (though open for less than 2 years) for the price-conscious shoppers. I would estimate that there were no fewer than 2000 shoppers in the store this particular Friday afternoon. The picture above was taken on another day but it gives you the idea of what it's like. Literally, the janitor was sweeping discarded hangars into a pile. A good half the shoppers spoke some other language than English, which is not at all unusual in any major retail store here. I would guess that a good 40 registers were checking people out. We picked up a few bits and pieces for the wardrobe, but mostly we marvelled at the emphasis placed in this city on remaining current with fashion, the low prices which make that possible and the fact that despite the severity of the current economic downtown, people haven't lost their appetite for consumption--they've just relocated to places like Primark.