Journey to England went wonderfully, although the airline did attempt to ruin it with bad service. The check-in person had obviously not gone through the American politeness training, snapped questions at me and then decided to ignore me completely as there was a drama unfolding next to me (someone booking with their company credit card without having it with them is apparently impossible). I didn't really care that the American cabin crews feel that their main function is safety, not service (unlike their European, Asian and Australian counterparts) as there was interesting tv to watch and a lot of sleep to be slept!
This somehow reminds me: in San Francisco pedestrian is the king. All cars stop at crossings, never try to steal space from pedestrians and I never felt worried about cars. This is a huge contrast to Perth where it felt dangerous crossing in places where pedestrians should've had priority. However, I learned on my final day in SF why one would want to drive a car: some of the homeless people get quite rude. I do understand if men whistle and compliment women they see on the street, like in Italy and to some extent in SF/America. But I do think it is very rude to try to stop someone, start shouting loudly/aggressively after someone, or corner them at the bus stop just to tell them how they'd like to sleep with you. Not only that, but try to convince you of how amazing they'd be in bed. It's not made any easier if the person doing this is about twice your age, homeless, smelly and still drunk from the last night, as it was 9 am at the time. I've heard the opinion that women should not dress so attractively as it does attract people, but I bet that my hoodie and jeans didn't really beg for attention, unless it was my toes showing from my trekking sandals...?
One final point on SF: October weather is brilliant. I hear the summer weather is nowhere as nice (a lot of fog), so if you're going to SF and can choose when, go in October! English weather hasn't been too bad either, not frozen yet in the clothes that took me through Australian winter. Luckily I'm getting a lot of my winter clothes from home this weekend, so the weather is not going to be an issue!
When I arrived to London I had the biggest culture shock I've had this far. In SF I was slightly annoyed about the people always talking to me on the bus, the street, anywhere I went, but eventually I quite enjoyed the odd word with everyone here and there. Australia was somewhat similar - people did speak to other people around them, it was usual to comment on something, but it wasn't as intensive as in SF. In London, no one seemed to talk to anyone at all. I accidentally bumped to someone and apologised - I got ignored. I said hello to the only other person on a bus stop - I got ignored. I asked a question at the train station - I got an annoyed stare and a one-word reply. Was London always like this??
Luckily there are a lot of lovely people in England! It seems that going straight into a Halloween party after a 10-hour flight is good for jet lag, but does not necessarily make you feel any better the morning after. The jet lag has been that much under control that I've been able to function with reasonably normal waking hours (9am to 2am) but my head seems to disagree a lot, as especially in the mornings understanding anything feels impossible. Last night I woke up around 5 am and had no idea where I was, how I got here and most importantly why. I spent five minutes working out the previous day and events leading to where I am right now.
So for November I'll be working in England in my old lab, and then I'm headed home for Christmas. Hopefully I'll be travelling again in January, so this blog might not be too active until then. Have a lovely autumn everyone!
Golden Gate Bridge from North at lunchtime.
