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5: I'm in Love With The Way England Looks

Everything is beautiful, used, and old in a way that is incomprehensible as I come from a country that’s only a few hundred measly years old. Pretty, functional, and simple; I might believe everything’s looked just the same for a few hundred generations.

It’s not just London: sitting on the Heathrow-Gatwick bus looking at the woods in the countryside I think how lovely camping would be, even enjoying the fantasy of staying out when it’s cold. The woods are sparse, having been harvested many times over the centuries, and good looking, but shit for solitude. On second thought, all of England is shit for solitude, London having many times more cameras per person than any other city (even though so far they haven’t helped with crime all that much). Simple, lovely, and looking far into the future is somehow exactly what I would expect from this dreary place. There’s a soft spot in my heart for dark comfortable mahogany rooms filled from floor to ceiling with books, memories, and unfinished dreams. This style is something I almost never see in The States.

It feels vaguely wrong to be sitting on the right side of this bus looking down at the median. Driving on the left matters more than I’d imagined, it bleeds into walking, grocery store checkouts, and escalators. It’s impressive how often I fuck it up. This was true in India as well (being ruled by the British for a 150 years will do that), but it didn’t occur to me when I was there. I suppose it must have been because there was so much novelty swirling around that my little brain couldn’t see through it.

Being back where I can drink the water, understand everything being said, and not have to be so careful about what I touch is surprisingly relaxing. There’s just less worry about how to do the next thing, like eat, or find my way, or not break any rules and get hauled off to a holding cell.