Another trip to Europe; this time it was a bit unexpected. But nevermind, I enjoy meeting my European (i.e. not British) friends!

It all started in the usual way: trains. I learn from my own mistakes, and so I came to Piccadilly earlier than last time. One train left just as I arrived to the airport (bad luck). Next train to the airport was scheduled at 15.37 from platform 13. All the signs were in agreement: platform 13. So I went to platform 13.

Just before you actually go down the stairs to platform 13, there is a sign... which insisted that next train goes at 15.43 to Liverpool Lime St. However, three metres back, another sign said that the 15.37 airport train goes from 13. So I went down. The first thing I've noticed was a huge platform sign saying that next train goes at 14.58 to airport. Which was funny because it was, like, 15.30 already. Then, a train arrived. I know how things go in Manchester, so I asked a train company employee. 'Nope, this train does not go to the airport,' confirmed the lady what I already knew. When asked about the final destination of the present train, she responded with some funny name (maybe Welsh?) and that was that.

Anyway, this time I was lucky, and the next train that arrived was the 15.37 train to Manchester airport.

During this funny process of looking for your train and asking various people dressed in the railway colours, I relfected on various cultures. I've recently read some articles about Japan. In particular, the articles mentioned that Japan is 'train culture', people ride trains every day. Japanese people are in fact 'hobby drivers', driving their cars only during weekends. Well, if I could say anything about UK people, it'd actually not be the exact opposite - it would be a 'twisted opposite'. At least some people in Manchester use trains quite a lot, they do not all go by car to work! Generally, many people travel by train every day (and I suspect that it's not only Mcr, in London it's even worse). However, this is not reflected in the quality of service, which can be described by many very interesting synonyms of the word 'a joke'.

Hi ho.

In Europe, it was kinda refreshing to be able to joke with people in more 'free' manner. I realized that in the UK, people are afraid of generalisations of any kind, and attributing a certain behaviour to a certain group of people, and making certain kind of fun of people. They are in fact terrified of offending someone, and practice a lot of auto-censorship.

Example of such forbidden statement statement may be: French people drink wine and occasionaly eat frogs. Statistically, this is absolutely right, this is how it is. French people drink wine (and are damn proud of their wine, and I think they have every possible right to be proud of their excellent wine), and at least some of them, and at least sometimes, eat frogs.

I am quite sure they would not be insulted at all: they love their wine, and if the one person you are talking with doesn't like frogs, s/he would tell you, but agree that other people eat frogs, and it is also tourist trap! You'd laugh together, and that's that.

My point is, there's nothing too bad about making such statements in Europe, while in the UK, this is an absolute no-no. We had a discussion once about prices of things. I mentioned that certain things, which cost, like, 1620 euro, are expensive for Czech people, because the average monthly salary (before tax) in the Czech Republic is 900 euro. British people were surprised, they have never realized this.

Then someone mentioned something like 'imagine how expensive this is for Africans'. Well, hell expensive, I guess, because in general people are not as rich in Africa as they are in Europe, even in Eastern Europe. This is in my opinion again a statistically correct statement. However, one guy got kinda angry, and started saying things like 'there is no such thing as Africa!'

I had to ask someone else for explanations, and they told me that the guy has just been angry because we say 'Africa' and mean everyone in Africa and Africa is big and diverse and it is not nice to just summarize all these beautiful, unique and diverse people in one judging word 'Africa'. I don't think we've done such thing, but hey. Objectively seen, there is Africa. I have been there. I have seen it. It's on the map, and it's on the internet, and BBC inform about AFrica every day, so I think its existence is proved beyond doubt!

What I am trying to say is that it was a relief, to be able to say things about people, to express your opinion freely, and to be able to refer to some very well known national characteristics. I mean, some people certainly do not fit in the 'average' of their country/nation, but some just do, and you should be allowed to say it aloud!

There are few funny things I wanted to mention about English British people.

First thing. The patron saint of Wales is St David. Therefore nearly all men from Wales are called David.

Second thing. The other day, I went to a restaurant with my colleagues (a company tradition...). It was an Italian restaurant. One guy ordered something called 'pizza Inglese' (or something like that, I don't speak Italian, so there is a risk that I got this wrong). This is basically pizza - with fried egg, bacon, and black pudding!

Would you ever, ever put black pudding on pizza? I think that only English people do things like that.

Have you ever noticed that
a) £2 coin looks very similar to 2 € coin, because both are big bi-colored coins, and
b) £5 looks almost like 5 €, because they are both small green banknotes?

Well, I have made myself look like a fool because of this.

Usual me: I forgot to take the euro notes and coins out of my wallet. Then I went to Aldi, selected stuff to buy, removed all my euro coins from my wallet and placed them into my pocket (in order not to mix them!), and waited in a cashier line. My stuff cost £3.25, and I was happy that I had enough coins.

Wait, that's 2 euros, said the cashier lady. I apologized, cursed silently, checked whether there were any more coins left, found no £2 coin, and took out a £5 note.

Wait, euro again, said the cashier lady. So I apologized again, cursed silently again, and gave her £20 instead. I made pretty sure that there was the smiling queen on the note before handing it in.

:-)

My identity crisis continues!

I have visited Europe for the second time since moving to the UK, and I feel so ridiculous here! Plus, I have no idea where do I belong, who am I, and stuff like that.

I have no idea why, but I really do have a problem with the fact that traffic in the UK is on the 'wrong' side. (Definitely on the wrong side, not just on the left side. It's just wrong and that's that.) I still occasionally overlook approaching car or bike, especially when I go for a bus in the morning. Driving on the left side also means that if you meet a person, that person goes to the left when s/he wants to avoid you. And the roundabouts are... wait... clockwise. (I am actually never sure, and it takes me a while to figure this out!)

Now imagine me, back in Europe. You'd expect me to be cool and relaxed, looking on the correct side when crossing the street, not jumping under trams and cars, not experiencing any problems in avoiding people, etc. etc. Right?

Wrong! Of course! In the UK, I always look on the wrong side when crossing the street, and the same now applies in Europe! I just do the European way in the UK, and I do the UK way in Europe! Goodness, why? And just today, I nearly walked into a guy. I avoided him, but it felt awkward. Only after he looked at me like I was crazy I realized that I have just avoided him the UK way... in Europe.

Well, I am not sure this will ever get better.

On a more positive side, there was snow in Europe, lots of snow. I enjoyed that a lot. just the looks of it. I really like snow; sometimes I just wonder why on Earth have I chosen rainy England.

I also enjoyed watching European trams. I don't know why, but the funny Manchester trams just seem unreal to me; these European trams are much more solid, present.

I have visited Cambridge for the first time!

It takes approx. 4 hours in various trains to get there from Manchester. By the way, I have noticed that the Virgin trains which run from Mcr to London probably cause me migraines, because they make some sub-sonic noise.

The only really interesting thing about the journey is that you can buy a train ticket which also works for London metro, between Euston and King's Cross. You just insert the train ticket into the automatic machine, and it lets you go through, and you can ride one station by metro! Isn't it funny?

Cambridge gives an awful first impression (at least when you arrive from London), and a very good second impression.

When you arrive from London, there is a building which looks pretty much like some really ugly industrial establishment, perhaps some waste management facility or something like that. It's box-like and with a huge chimney, and you just wonder - and that's that? Everyone says Cambridge is very nice, but the only thing I see is this? (I was later told that this ugly building is a hospital.)

Then you come to a train station (which is just usual train station), and you have to walk, like, 20 min from the train station to the city centre. This walk is not really the nicest in the world - the street is just an ugly big street with a lot of traffic, and the buildings are not particularly interesting or beautiful. And during the whole walk, you just wonder: and that's that?

And then you arrive to the city centre, and you see all the beautiful stuff! There are the white-stone neo-gothic buildings, with the gardens and the arches, and all the things from postcards. It looks like bright Hogwarts. :-)

The downside is that all these nice buildings have a very clear message on their door: keep off, college members only.