Sprungl

All British stereotypes are true!

Recently I visited England for the 4th time, or was it my 3rd time, perhaps my 5th, who knows, lets say it was my 4th time. The trip was all about British comedy and walking around exploring all the interesting things London has to offer. 

But on the first day I realised that all of the stereotypes, myths and jokes are true. We were on our way to see the I’m sorry I haven’t a clue show in Manchester and earlier bought two tickets for the 8.20 am train from London to Manchester. Got up early in the morning, hurried from train station to underground to reach Euston station on time, only to find all the trains were delayed due to works on the lines, well at least there weren’t leaves on the line! I’m used to hearing all these jokes about the British railways not being on time, but then you think it can’t be that bad. So we waited, and waited, then waited some more, until all of a sudden there was an announcement that our train wasn’t going anywhere and instead we should go on the earlier train. And we ran towards the other train, only to find it was full, and our reserved seats weren’t valid anymore. We planned to have lunch on the train, instead we sat in different seats, next to strangers in the quiet coach who clearly disobeyed the quiet coach rules by snoring very loudly. But after almost 3 hours of drive up North, we made it to Manchester and had a wonderful time watching a 2 hour ISIHAC show, after which we could have used some ice packs to heal the pain that too much laughter has caused.

And then there was London, you know how they say London is a foggy, rainy, cloudy city, well if they don’t say that they should start, it certainly was miserably looking for all of the 7 days we were there. Even Manchester was sunnier and warmer. When we left Slovenia it was sunny and up to 36 degres of Celsius and then we arrived to London with its high of 16 degres and rain, I was grateful I packed my winter clothes! But not to be that critical of London, we did have at least two hours of sunshine per week. 

But what makes up for all the delays, waiting, stabbing, bad moments and the awful weather, are the wonderful and kind people of Britain! We still had a lot of fun, enjoyed exploring London and going to all the shows, meeting all the lovely people,etc. So all is well that ends well. Not even the bad weather or the delays can keep me away from London, so to quote the immortal words of Arnold: “I’ll be back…”