Category: London

There are many people who post tourist guides on YouTube. They may be on other sites, too, but I don’t look. These vary in quality considerably.

I know when I travel that there are basic things that I like to know. What public transport there is, for example, and how to use it. How to get to and from the airport. Places to avoid. Even how to cross the road.

If you see a video entitled “10 things that will shock you about London”, then you know you are going to find out something of major importance.

In the first video I am thinking of (no, I won’t lower myself to giving a link), the presenter says that the first shocking thing is that London is big. That is shocking? The presenter is plainly some small town American who has no concept of the world (despite his travel videos, well, actually, mostly of his children playing) and no understanding that one of the major cities of the world is going to be relatively large.

Elsewhere, someone else is shocked that we do dates ‘wrongly’. In America it is MM/DD/YY. Here and for almost all the rest of the world it is DD/MM/YY. Even the USA immigration department acknowledge that the American way of doing dates is confusing, as the immigration forms ask for the more standard format. You, lady presenter, cannot cope with the dates, but that doesn’t mean they are ‘wrong’. Of course, neither is the best. YYYY/MM/DD would be advantageous for many reasons.

Someone else was ‘shocked’ that roads in the UK are not straight and that the cars drive on the wrong side! And that we use the metric system, obviously ‘wrong’. And we don’t accept dollars in our shops.

And so on. Shocking.

You would hope that people who create websites, do blogs or vlogs about any topic will bring some knowledge or informed commentary to a subject. I talk about London because I have lived here for nearly 40 years. There are things I don’t write about, because I don’t know.

I don’t go into central London very often, certainly much less than I used to. So, I notice changes when I do.

There are many places where you will see people sleeping rough. Lots of shop entrances, especially in the evenings. The Strand is always a bad place, theatre district, but there are many others. Under dark bridges, down back alleys, in railway stations for example.

It has always been pretty bad in London, possibly more than in many other cities as very little is actually done to deal with it. There are charities and institutions who provide hot food, and some beds are available, but it is still a bad problem. Bad, and seems to be getting worse.

Rough sleepers seem to be getting more persistent and are, in some cases, rather aggressive. Some seem to have rather ferocious dogs too.

Buskers, too, seem to be more prevalent.

If you are a visitor to London, then there are places where street performers are welcomed, Covent Garden for example. If you stop to watch them, it’s right to give them some money. But if you are walking down the street and someone comes up to you just begging, then don’t give them anything, however loud and aggressive they may be. Not even a coffee. If you want to help, find a charity and contribute to that.

I was waiting in line for a concert a few weeks ago, and a very smart lady in an evening dress approached me. She asked if I could help. She wanted money, and I refused. The swearing was most un-ladylike. Maybe she had a genuine need, I don’t know, but I was not interested to find out. Giving money just makes it worse.