It’s 2:45 UK time, but it’s 9:45 US time so I’m sitting w/ a cup of English Breakfast Tea as I write this. Ron and I arrived at our hotel in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, at about 2:30, and we’ve already had a very full day. From Heathrow we took an express train to Paddington Station and then another to Euston Station. Traveling by train is “smashing” as the Brits say b/c passengers get to sleep, read, enjoy the scenery, and visit w/ new people while someone else does all the driving. The most difficult part was the lack of lifts (elevators) at the stations so we had to haul our 40+ pound bags up several flights of stairs. I knew I should’ve packed fewer shoes. I should’ve packed more jeans and sweaters since it’s 65 degrees and rainy. Once we arrived at Euston Station in the centre of London, we picked up our pre-ordered train ticket for Stoke and had about four hours to explore London before we needed to get on yet another train. Fortunately Euston has a “Left Baggage” service where we could leave our suitcases, for a few, so we didn’t have to lug them around as we walked the streets of London.
My first impressions of London are, “How does anyone find where they need to go?” There are very few street signs standing at corners, instead most street names are posted on walls, fences, and sides of buildings. My second impression had to do w/ the architecture. We found what we thought was a cathedral, but once we got closer to it we realized it was St. Pancras Station….another train station. We walked inside to find beautiful porticals and a giant bronze of a WW I soldier saying good-bye to his lady love. We did find a church later, St. Pancras Church, (Church of England), but it was very unassuming compared to St. Pancras Station. The inside of the church, however, was quite lovely w/ pew doors that gave parishioners the appearance of having box seats. The other feature I found truly interesting was the small winding staircase leading up to the podium where the minister would look down upon his congregation much as God looks down upon his followers. My third impression dealt w/ trash recepticles…..they don’t exist in places where you expect them to. For example, we ate lunch el fresco and seeing no garbage cans, I took our garbage w/ us into the train station only to find no cans there either. I handed them to a clerk, and he looked at me as if I’d ask him to give me a kidney rather than take my trash. Apparently people just leave their garbage sitting on the tables, and workers come by and collect it. I did the same thing at a sidewalk Starbucks, and the woman behind the counter looked at me as if I was putting her out.
The train from London Euston Station to Stoke-on-Trent took about two-and-a-half hours, largely due to many stops along the way. The train system really is utilized here as a way for people to compute to work or to live in smaller hamlets while still having close, easy access to one of the largest cities in the world. As I said before, the train allows people to meet. I talked w/ an older gentleman who had played a jazz gig in London and was returning home. We talked about the differences b/w British and American jazz and why little baby girls always seem to be dressed in pink. There were plenty of children w/ their parents getting on and off the train sometimes for one stop or sometimes six or seven. One young couple had a sweet little girl who smiled at everyone including a man who refused to smile back at her until she just kept smiling at him until he had no choice but to be enamored by her. It was obvious that her parents gave her a lot of love and attention to create such a sweet disposition. Another young couple had four children under the age of five, and I predict that these children will grow up w/ low self concepts but will compensate for that by belittling others. I’m led to this assumption b/c the mother of these children said things to them like, “The coppers will come put handcuffs on you if you don’t behave,” and …… I was very happy when they only rode the train for one stop. People bring their bicycles on the train so they have that mode of transportation at their next stop, but there are five or six train cars so everyone manages to find room for luggage, baby buggies, and bikes.
Riding the train allowed me my first look at the English countryside. In many ways it’s not that different from Iowa w/ farms having crops and livestock. The farm houses are much bigger than the houses in the towns, and these town houses are of all the same style and material, which makes me question if British architects or homeowners lack imagination. The further we got from London, the more we felt like we were traveling back in the history of England.
