London Day Two really wasn’t. We had breakfast at The Patisserie, near the hotel, and was shocked to learn that the Big British Breakfast traditionally includes baked beans, and not the good kind either. We caught the Thameslink Train to Harpenden, a dormitory (the British expression for bedroom community or suburb) of London. Harpenden is about 25 miles north of London.
We spent the day with a British family at their daughter’s football match, which is the equivalent of our soccer game. John coaches his daughter’s team, which has been playing together for about 7 years. They had an unexpectedly good “result,” with Harpenden defeating Tottenham 9 to 1, what they referred to as a “walkover.” The teenage buzzword in the UK appears to presently be “brilliant,” as Nicky used it as ubiquitously as US kids say “cool.” John drove us around the town, which is utterly charming with it’s narrow hedge-lined lanes, Tudor homes, and rolling hillsides. Let it be recorded that it was here I first discovered the mint flavored Kit-Kat candy bar, which is nothing short of transformational.
Clare has just been accepted into Cambridge. One of the unique traditions of the British schools is to afford students the opportunity for a deferred university enrollment. She has the opportunity to attend Cambridge after taking a year’s sabbatical to have unique work and travel experiences. I wish the USA had this same tradition.
The town laws, born of national influence, protect the substantial green commons areas full of foot and bridal paths as well as the agricultural belt around the town keeping it nothing short of idyllic. We even stopped to see the remains of a Roman wall. The schools in this community are quite small compared to America, but have about the same pupil teacher ratio.
The day ended with a lovely meal at the Golden Elephant Thai Restaurant in a neighboring hamlet. In about half of the restaurant, I had to duck to walk around as the ceiling beams were so low. After dinner we stopped by the store fronts of several real estate offices in town. I had several mild coronary occlusions. A tiny, semi-detached (which in America would mean attached) dwelling easily sold for a half million US dollars! Keep in mind that when I say tiny, I am more accurately referring to itty-bitty, teeny-weeny.
We had a extraordinary day in the countryside with a wonderful British family. The beautiful weather was only superseded by the friendliness of the people and warm hospitality of John’s family.
Some additional thoughts from Harpenden…
I had the opportunity to chat with another fellow named Tim whose daughter plays on John’s team. His older son lives in Canada at the moment, and Tim and his family lived in Colorado for a while. He states that his son has no desire to return to England at this time because of the national pervasive attitude which he described as cynicism, an “You will never be able to…” attitude. He said that the American attitude is much more of a can-do attitude with a sense of pervasive optimism. As terrorist attacks continue in the USA (I suspect them to be inevitable) and as the world runs out of oil (I fear this will happen sooner than we may think) we will see if the Americas remain as optimistic.
Perhaps this attitude is born of the more rigid class system in the United Kingdom. In the United States class mobility is far less rigid. People can more easily move up the class structure and move down. In the UK this is considered less possible.
Tim also commented on our peculiar preoccupation with guns. He told me that the vast majority of the British police do not even carry weapons. I found this to be true even in the city of London. Only special forces police are armed–this from a country that has a deep and difficult history with terrorism. Tim was especially amused by the fact that ordinary citizens in the United States have such easy access to automatic weapons. I suppose one never knows when an entire heard of deer will cross one’s path and all need to be slain at once.