I made it back from London in one piece, a few weeks short of the Olympics, without being too uncomfortable on the eight-hour flight. I was actually quite successful in maintaining my sanity on what I expected to be a flight from hell. Maybe it was because the plane was not full and I was able to spread out along a row of seats. Or maybe sitting on a long flight was a welcome activity because my body needed a break from the long days of walking and walking and walking and walking. That walking certainly improved the muscular endurance of my legs, and at the end of each day I felt the fatigue in my muscles. I realised that to exist successfully in London, one must possess a particularly unique type of fitness…a specific fitness with both physical and psychological facets. One need not have the superb physical capacity of an elite athlete, yet one must possess physical strength, and particularly muscular endurance, to withstand the activities of a day in London, and even more so if one is a tourist, anxious to witness and experience all that the city has to offer. With the Olympics around the bend, I expect that there will be lots of readers braving the Trans-Atlantic flight as avid London-bound tourists. So be prepared! I easily walked three to five miles a day, everyday for five days. By the end of my vacation, my legs were grateful for 8hours of sitting!
London is not a city for the obese, particularly if one does not have a car. Firstly, to squeeze like a sardine into a packed Tube at rush hour is difficult enough for the average-sized individual, nevermind a largely overweight person. The speed at which people move in the Underground and around the city is astonishing, especially if one is accustomed to the sluggishly sauntering style of Trinis. If one is slow, the flow of human traffic is hampered and one is sure to be scolded, albeit in a pleasant way. The English are certainly not shy about speaking their minds! London is also not a city for the handicapped or frail elderly. Although the Tube and buses are accessible, the biggest challenge for the elderly is the crowds of people swarming around, bumping into you, jostling, pushing past without regard, as if you did not exist. I noted that most of the senior citizens walked around London with a cane for balance despite the fact that I do not think they would need the device in a calmer, more thoughtful city. At rush hour, I saw no elderly persons, and I understand why. The clamouring speed of the robotic, tunnel-visioned individuals traveling home on the Tube at rush hour make it extremely dangerous for anyone who is frail and slow.
I often sat on the Tube and wondered at these robotic, tunnel-visioned individuals. Are they really happy people? Are they mentally healthy? There they sat, squeezed against one another, physically touching each other, yet mentally so far from one another, they may as well have been in another country, or even another world. They did not talk to one another. The Tube was quiet, save for the chatter of a couple friends at the other end of the cab and the drumming of the train’s engine. It is a cold city, not only in terms of the dreary weather, but also in terms of its personality. Despite its rich history and its royalty, despite its innumerable activities and unique events, even despite preparations for the Olympics, London can be a dismal, hostile place. Maybe it was because I was a stranger to London, and this is just in fact how I felt, like a stranger. No friendly nods in the street, no “excuse me” when you’re bumped into. No one gets out of your way in the street. No one gives a hoot…particularly if it is a cold, melancholy, grey Monday morning. I suppose that in a city of eight million people where personal space is so limited, and crammed Tubes are a germ’s dream playground, people need to protect themselves, to put up an uninviting wall of privacy, to fight for both their physical and personal space in this human can of sardines. And maybe this uninviting wall of privacy in a city of millions is a reason for the peculiar, whimsical fashion of London youth who seem to scream for attention as they try to create their own identity among the millions.
Or perhaps there is more to it. But whatever it is, one needs a special, unique type of mental fitness…a fitness specific to London’s personality. Indeed, the city demands a particular strength of character in order for one to be a successful, healthy Londoner. But maybe in the excitement of the Olympics, these cold characteristics will take a temporary hiatus and release the warm pleasantries that have been oppressed, and one may get quite the opposite experience. In fact, London is a city of co-existing opposites, where ancient buildings and monuments are juxtaposed against an urban backdrop of glass buildings and tall construction cranes. In this city of opposites where stringent monarchical diehards sit cramped, alongside eccentric modern mohawked punks on the Tube, I realise that London is not a place in which I’d like to live. Indeed, while I have the physical fitness to be the most avid and active tourist, and will definitely return for visits, I certainly do not have the specific type of mental fitness to call it home.
-Asha De Freitas-Moseley
Source: www.guardian.co.tt