A travel note from a work trip to London in September 2024
A trip of many firsts: First time being a solo “travelling salesman”, following up with in-person meetings.
First time driving in the UK. First time renting a car in a long time.
The trip was layered: less of the Ifs and Whens, but rather, the buts. One of repeated crisis and things that could go wrong, but turned out for the better (or minimally and ok)
An anxiety inducing lack of ability to put a fragile sticker onto the product cargo, which led me to insist and pressure on personally sitcking on a fragile label that i saw lying on the counter; the late arrival of the product cargo in the UK terminal, leading me to wait in the baggage collection area for an additional 3 hours. The scrunched up face and horror of the Enterprise Car employee when she had “got me down witha Fiat500”, and having it upgraded for free to a Hyundai Tucson. And the product itself, discovering that some cables were missing, but was able to hardwire an anderson plug.
I gently evolved into an incredibly amateurish electrical engineer in that hour.
And finally, a cancelled Gatwick flight, but fairly smooth
But that intensity of repeated change, solution and acceptance weighed heavily on the already predisposed psychie, i grew a fondness and attachment to the car and the places I visited. Wishing my time there was commensurate with the stress it had caused.
I would even argue that driving in the London area was more nerve wracking than the actual meetings themselves. Tight lanes, long drives on highways, accompanied by BBC radio 1,
The two-sided experience, of appreciating that the Cockfosters Chippie that had been around since I first visited as a small kid was still there, despiet the man, getting on in age, and essentially complaning ruefully on the hard work; which dampened by unusually social sharing on how glad i was that the store was still around (despite covid and all) after almost 30 years of knowing about the place
Further dampened by the fact that a piece of cod was almost 12 pounds; shocking, just like the prices of meal deals (5 pounds in M&S) as well. Indeed, inflation has hit hard in this area.
The semblance of decline and lost cash as the currency exchange rate was essentially halve of what it used to be. My loss, but a small one in the bigger picture of the broader state of the UK economy.
In places, I could not help but feel
A feeling of stagnant similarity. A comfort in the familiar, but equally so, a concern than too little has changed. Notable in the Cockfosters area, but I am told that big things had been changing in central London. For all its grit and glory, the pessimism I read (not a budget anyone is looking forward to) is not precisely felt well on the ground in my circles; but the perception and division of London => Outer London => rest of the UK remains ever different.
The stress of driving in the UK came with its own welcome freedom, and a path out of the London bubble that I had grown accustomed to, seven years since my last visit. But while London remains as London, Enfield was sprightly with its activity, but I wondered what people actually did. Essex on the other hand, felt aged, and slow; although I had not spent much time in the area. Palmers green was another area I never thought I’d visit in my life - to return the car.
I left these areas too with an impression of disparity in my mind: not only racial feudalism nor white feudalism. The strata, opportunities and role of class still seems entrenched and unforgiving, even in modern society. Almost as if the kings of old, were replaced with the Lords and baronies of austerity and tyrannical underdevelopment - a point of low-intervention pride that left the country a little bit behind. Its stiff upper lip and brusque gentlemenness now dilute with metropolitanism,
Despite it all, a spirit and politeness that were quintessentially British still permeated most encounters. And I miss it.
But such observations pale a level below the opportune - I caught up with old flames and old friends in the waning times of the day and week. I remain consistently in awe of how little people change fundamentally and to reconnect in comfort and familiarity so easily. It is a point of glee and gratitude for each catch up, and of the timeless times reconnecting with old friends 10 years on. A gentle reminder that so much, but so little has changed.