Getting around
In 1965, England was a pretty homogenous society. Immigrants were from faraway places like Scotland and Ireland or maybe Wales. A European “continental” was a strange species. I remember a few enclaves of WWII ex-pats, particularly from Eastern Bloc countries like Poland and Hungary. People who had come here when their countries were occupied by Nazi Germany, who fought from bases in England, and then couldn’t, or wouldn’t, go home because their countries had fallen behind the Iron Curtain. I remember going into shops in London’s Polish communities where they sold exotic foods like kielbasa and other things I knew little of. Of course there was an Indian influence. It had been less than 20 years since Britain had given up rule over India, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, so there were still many remnants of the close association between the countries. If you wanted exotic food in those days, it was pretty much going to be Indian, and curry was particularly popular.
But these were the exceptions. English bloodlines, culture and traditions were predominant throughout society. It’s astonishing today to see the local football teams being so multi-national. The English teams then might have a few Scots or Irish and maybe one foreigner, but they were dominated by English players.
On the whole, London was an orderly society with clear norms of behavior. You queued in an orderly manner, you ate meals at proper times, you wore the proper work clothes and school uniforms, you carried your umbrella in the right manner. You left your children at home or boarding school and took your dogs to restaurants.
And you walked on the left.
Today it’s chaos. Not only are many of the traditions fading, but so is the regimented decorum of days past. Walking along a street, most people stay to the right. But just as you begin to think you understand the system, along will come a determined soul, steadfastly plowing up the left hand side. Others seem to gather courage from the brazen pathfinder and follow behind. Suddenly everything has shifted, and for a while everybody’s passing on the left, looking a little unsure of themselves, but going along with it. Crosswalks seem to be the reset button. Once again we’re all on the right.
The Underground is no better. The entry turnstiles are typically to the right of the exit turnstiles. The escalators all pass on the right side of each other. Public service announcements constantly remind you to stand on the right and pass on the left. Coming off the escalator, everyone is naturally on the right side, and so they tend to stay there. Good, you think, I’ve got this solved. Then you round a curve in the passenger tunnel and are confronted by a stampede of passengers who have just alighted from an incoming train. They have followed the “way out” signs right into your path, thundering up the left hand side.
There are the occasional stations that still have the “keep left” signs throughout the corridors:
And there you are back on the left side again until it’s time for the next reset to occur.
Maybe this has to do with immigration. Foreigners (and not even from the Commonwealth) bringing their foreign ways and their foreign tongues and unsettling the way things ought to be done. What I do know is that the Londoner of old would never have allowed this poppycock.
Maybe this is the real reason for Brexit. Maybe Brexit will bring back what was left behind.
HUH ??????