My descriptions of recent travels aren't likely to be very cohesive, I'm
afraid. Deal.
So, I've been in three of the world's most famous cities in the last two
weeks - Paris, London and, of course, Sydney. Some points of comparison
are in order, I think - although it's important to remember that I'm a
tourist in Paris and London, and a local in Sydney - starting with the
two things I find most frustrating: coffee, and public transport.
The most frustrating thing for me in London was the lack of coffee. Oh,
they had something that they called coffee. I would call it dishwater. I
really can't figure out what the problem was - because I was actually so
bold as to ask one barista what the deal was. He didn't know, but
described the process to me. Sounded normal, no added dishwater or
anything. Perhaps then, I thought, it could be the water in London
(which is surprisingly and unpleasantly different to Sydney water). But
then, I had rubbish coffee in York as well, where the water isn't quite
as gross, but may be as hard (as Mr B pointed out after a careful
inspection of Dr K's kettle). So we're left with a possible mineral
content problem.
The most frustrating thing for me being back in Sydney is the trains.
The one I'm sitting on now, for example, is trundling along at a
leisurely 60 or 70 km/h, and it's an "express". We're being overtaken by
cars alongside, in a residential area. Trains in the UK almost push you
back into your seat as they take off, and continue quite fast. Mr B said
about 100 mph, I think. Certainly the landscape was blurred at times.
I almost kicked the train I got from North Sydney to Central this
afternoon, which was ludicrously slow. Like 50 km/h the whole way. There
was an official looking man watching (and I'm not the kicking type
anyway) so I contented myself with telling him, with some asperity,
"that's the slowest fucking train I've ever been on". He didn't seem to
care.
In the UK, I got a train from London to York in about half the time it
would take to drive, and a train from Southend (Essex) to London in
about 40 mins (somewhat more than Wollongong to Sydney type distance, I
think). Trains are actually useful in the UK, but they're also terribly
expensive.
Paris, ah Paris. Paris wins on both these counts. The coffee is
drinkable and the metro is useful (although don't stand too close to the
closing doors - they were designed on the guillotine, I think). After a
week of "east-west" and "north-south" navigation on the underground, I
had to trace the map through to find the final destination in order to
make sure I was going the right way, but you soon get used to that.
(BTW, how do Londoners decide which direction is east and which is west
on the Circle line?).
The only criticism I have of Paris is the Parisian tendency to blithely
run down pedestrians. Crossing the road can be quite an experience.
