Aug 2-16: London

Clean and Efficient, by Cathy

After almost two weeks in London, there are several things we repeatedly comment about, which I’ve decided to put in writing. (These will be obvious to those familiar with London, so feel free to skim or stop reading entirely!).

One thing we take note of every day- It’s so clean! Stepping off the Circle Line train yesterday, I see a man holding a bucket out to passersby, but instead of asking for spare change, he was offering to collect passengers’ garbage. Imagine! There are people sweeping the streets (seemingly at all hours of the day & night), repainting, repairing, powerwashing, etc., and there must be scores of folks employed to take care of the magnificent hanging flower baskets all over.  I used a public restroom the other day that was not only clean, but charming!

Public transportation here rocks. True, the underground is labyrinthine (and way cool), but at each station,there is at least one, if not several, information agents strolling around looking for folks like us with puzzled expressions. In every single car of every train there is a map of the line you’re on and where it’s going, in addition to a screen showing the next station and a clear audio announcement. So, even if you’ve gone wrong, you can quickly make a correction (keeping embarrassment & frustration at a minimum). If you miss a train, not to worry – another will be by within minutes (like 1 and 4 and 7, etc.) If you do have to wait, you do so in a station that is clean, feels safe, and does not smell like pee (in sharp contrast to, say, Civic Center BART). The cars themselves, many of which seem new, are designed to maximize space when full, but are also quite comfortable when not.

Easy to be a tourist on foot here as well. Neighborhood maps are posted all over, not only with “You are here” (sometimes surprising!), but also where you will be if you walk out in any direction for 5 or 15 minutes. One even showed the approximate calories you’d burn (not enough to  to cover a fish ‘n’ chip dinner from Hobson’s on Porchester Road). Not sure where the homeless are, but we’ve seen very few on the streets. The whole driving on the other side of the road thing does make street crossings precarious (despite “Look Left” or “Look Right” clearly printed on the road at most), but the absence of honking hopefully means minimal road rage and drivers readily stop for pedestrians.

I guess these observations are made comparatively, with San Francisco in our minds, and that may not be fair. That said, I think The City would benefit if the Board of Supervisors took a field trip to London.