What to be packed in my luggage must include some afterthoughts about what the Uk is made of as I see it.
This is my second time to the UK, the first to London being a decade ago. The break from the humdrum routines at home has been refreshing to me. Travelling is a medicine in itself, apart from being educational.
^Of Birmingham
The country is too vast and varied to be learned in any single trip. But I have seen and learned a few peculiar things about the country. First, it is the ubiquitous "but" in conversations with the slightly exaggerated pronunciation of the middle "/\" sound. Second, it is the unmistakable stances among the newspaper publishers.
Some smart persons having pondered on the situation bore fruit in the shape of the following catchy phrases:
The Times is read by the people who run the country; The Independent is read by people who don't know who runs the country but are sure they're doing it wrong; The Guardian is read by those who think they ought to run the country; The Sun by the people who possibly might actually run the country; The Daily Mirror by the people who will never run the country again; The Daily Mail by the wives of the men who run the country; The Daily Express by those who believe that the country used to be run better in the past.
^A typical lush and leafy English landscape to me
This scenario sounds disquieting to someone from a society where harmony in getting things done is more treasured. This is not compatible with the serene scenic English landscape so commonly seen throughout my trip, I think. Well, at least for a low-context society as in the UK where you are expected to say "well", "oh", really, "fantastic", etc, etc every now and then in conversations, keeping quiet is not a virtue unless you are reading in a library or watching a performance. Certainly, that excludes political performances.
^In Shakespeare's time, the Puritans in the London government were sane people making a mess in policy.
Politically, the UK is messy indeed. It has been and will be for many years to come run in the like fashion. So, the option for the country is simply to be badly run or even more badly run. Curiously enough, it is a country with some of the smartest and sanest people in the world doing crazy and insane things in policy. I should not get too political here. But the UK is so rich in history of and contributions to the mankind that it is just sad to see the downward direction the country is possibly heading to.
^The old St. Mary's Guildhall of Coventry where Wesley the famous Methodist preacher preached
I saw the big bubble university campus in the middle of nowhere, which is as good as a nice campus gets. The fallacy of reserving a remote purpose-built site for a university campus has seemingly been solidified in an unbeatable falsity here. I have heard that the Bristol Uni, now consisting of buildings for like the fine arts school in the city, is going to build its campus in a big piece of remote land.
^A night scene in the Warwick Uni campus
Then I met young faces in the street having dropped out from school. I stayed with some fresh graduates too. I studied and spoke with them, getting the impression of a generation of lesser visions. They are not at a loss about the future. But their upward movements are stalled by the national circumstances of all sorts. The notion of fresh graduates living on a job-seeking allowance is not flattering for a country which bred capitalism and industrialisation.
^The intended overexposure does a period quality to the image
Um, the grown-ups. I have heard people in this country calling each other partners more than husbands and wives. This is not about being conservative or religious. Not all British families are made up of partners plus children of different breeds who take meals at different hours in front of the TV, I know. But this is certainly a sign of change in social values to some experimental ones. It is as well a brave move...er...at a time when many other problems like unemployment are to be tackled. Talking about bravery, Gordon is brave enough to prepare to sell off some of the country's properties to raise funds for the national debts.
If I am to think of a government which still governs and a country which makes big money, I can easily point to the "communist" China. This is so paradoxically mind-boggling.
The UK is a fascinating country full of surprises which I may never understand. I gasped when people told me that all geese in the country are the Queen's property. I was speechless with disbelief when the bus driver pulled over the bus to explain the coins and ticketing machine to the passengers, disregarding the bus timetable. The xenophobia of the Brits against the minority in a country which claims to cherish multi-nationality is a incongruent chord to the melody.
I may not fancy to live in the country, but it is definitely an intriguing and spectacular country I like a lot.
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