"Pee pe pe pee pe
Pee pe pe pee pe
Pee pe pe pee pe
Pe pe pe pe.... .........This is London.......( the song continues)... 18 hour Greenwich Mean Time BBC World Service..............(and it goes on).... "
This is what I have heard tuning to the BBC news at 11:30pm IST. Greenwich is something very synonymously comes with London, something the English have given to the World - a standard to follow. When it is 13mins past an hour in Greenwich, it is 13 mins past some hour in the rest of the World (or 13 minutes past half an hour)!
I wanted to make sure I don't become a fool like asking Amazon in South Africa, here. So carefully looked in to web and then maps to make sure that Greenwich is here in England and it is very near to central London. You have local tube to Greenwich it is that near!
My destination was Greenwich on last Sunday ( I know I am lagging a week, but I am making notes in my diary that I will not miss anything nor will pack everything in one mail). I got down at Canary Wharf to take a DLR (Dockland Light Rail) tube to Greenwich. The information on the way, the announcement on the earlier tubes, none told me that DLR is closed for maintenance! I saw the station closed with a board in front saying alternate arrangements are been made with special replacement bus services. Walked to the bus stop as directed in the map attached with the notice.
Got a bus after waiting for some 20 mins. It dropped me in Island gardens, just some 500 metres away from Greenwich. I can see Greenwich Royal Observatory on the top of a hill on the other side of Thames! A beautiful sight! I would have missed this if I had come by the tube, which will drop me in Greenwich itself!
Crossed Thames through an underground tunnel some 200 meters long, built in 1919 ! A good experience!
Climbed the hill, nice views of London from there. The Canary Wharf buildings were projecting out of the city view. Canary Wharf is known as the 'Manhattan of London'. Took some snaps standing on zero degree line, the clock that sets the time for the World, the standard measures of 1foot, 2 foot and inches.
The sky was cloudy and it was getting more cooler. The biggest problem with the winter is its connection to the 'bladder'. Your priority slowly changes to finding a toilet, whether you are standing in front of London bridge or Big Ben or Greenwich Observatory! You look for the sign board and the funniest thing here is, I follow the sign boards and after 10 mins of walk, the next signboard shows the arrow in opposite direction! I do not know whether they mean the open space :)!
It was 4:30 by the time I came down and was really hungry when I realized I have skipped lunch. Tried an Indian restaurant in Greenwich (the waiters were speaking some funny language which does not belong to even any neighbours of India! ), named 'Taste of India'. A peshwari naan, bindi masala with a Mango lassi cost me £7 ! I had to pay that buggar 50p tip also! Took a DD back to Canada Water and then took my usual Jubilee and District lines to reach back home by 7.
That was my last weekend coming to an end. What is our perception of the people here ? The people who are punctual, who insist on cleanliness, who has taught the World manners, who introduced etiquette, and what not......
I think things are not exactly what it seems to be. For punctuality,5-10 mins is allowed for any meeting to be delayed, but for trains and services, they are punctual up to an extent. Perfect !
But coming to the next, I have seen people throw away cigarette bits on the road or on footpath, seen people taking out wet tea bag from the cup straight to the meeting table (that too while in the middle of a meeting), leave behind food, magazines, newspaper etc. in a very bad state in tubes and, in buses and DDs, the situation is worse.
Yesterday, coming back from the central town, two native kids were fighting in the tube, approximately 10-11 years old. They were hitting each other with tins lying on the floor it went on until they got down after five stations. No one seemed to bother. A Chinese guy sitting next to them changed his seat that is all.
What I am saying is it is all the same, the people! It is the same World. I have not seen any difference in what a normal man thinks, let it be anywhere in the World.
