London was different this visit. As the newness of my Netherlands experience has given way to a realisation that my time on the Continent this tour may soon be passing, London appeared both welcoming and daunting.
It's strange to be in a place where I can eavesdrop again, a place where the cabbies can speak intricately in a language I understand. I too can be understood, but I speak not the same tongue. The distance from the North Shore to the East End remains forbidding.
It's not the physical distance that's the issue. I don't mind being a long way from "home" because home is not really a physical place but a compilation of narratives in to which I can reconnect with. It's the nagging sense that people think I'm a rube or an idiot because I'm an American.
It all comes down to Football. When I approach a Briton about Football, the inevitable response-be it from a cabbie or headhunter or investment banker-is "You mean ENGLISH football?" My visceral, unstated response is invariably "Of course I mean English football, you bloody lime-ass idiot! Do you think I want to talk with you about the New England Fucking Patriots?"
Instead, I say: "yeah, I mean English football, who's your team?", and having memorised Simon Inglis' outstanding Football Grounds of Britain ten years ago, win the person over quickly by surfacing the anatomical details of their chosen club's current or former stadium.
Still, that moment of being treated as an idiot yank foreigner still rankles. I lived in that country for seven years and gratefully hold its passport. I have even suffered through eleven Tottenham Hotspur seasons of football futility. But all that counts for nothing when I open my mouth.
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6 comments:
Michael, Your dad passed your blog address onto me and I've added it to my favs. You are quite a chip off the old block...a credit to your dad's usage of the lang-wich. As for the Spurs...shame on them. I'm looking for massive lineup changes for the fall. Getting rid of the little midget bastard (Defoe) with the chip on his shoulder was good for Spurs and the team that got him. I'm afraid they're playing out the season in their sleep. Hope for a better next year. I think that Juande might be good, but perhaps not the miracle worker expected. Poyete needs to disappear, as I fear he's not above running a management end game. Hope that you have success in London. I've got plenty of friends and family there, so if you run a cropper, let me know. (y8earp@cox.net). All the very best...keep writing and keep well.
Mike Levy
Michael, Your dad passed your blog address onto me and I've added it to my favs. You are quite a chip off the old block...a credit to your dad's usage of the lang-wich. As for the Spurs...shame on them. I'm looking for massive lineup changes for the fall. Getting rid of the little midget bastard (Defoe) with the chip on his shoulder was good for Spurs and the team that got him. I'm afraid they're playing out the season in their sleep. Hope for a better next year. I think that Juande might be good, but perhaps not the miracle worker expected. Poyete needs to disappear, as I fear he's not above running a management end game. Hope that you have success in London. I've got plenty of friends and family there, so if you run a cropper, let me know. (y8earp@cox.net). All the very best...keep writing and keep well.
Mike Levy
ja, the very word "football" -this is a constant issue, if you have spent time in Europe adn use it stateside, people ask what you mean, and vice versa. pretty endless.
Mike,
These are the rewards of things superficial. My experience in England at University tracks your experience in spirit, if not detail. The fact of the matter is the Brits are flip and glib -- when it flatters you (always as a characture) -- it can feel good (but a srangely false high). But always expext the reverse, too. It depends on how you want to be taken, Mike: as an image or a reality. You need a home for being taken for real (for flattery or not)-- not some theoretical construct of time, place and culture (that's called fantasy). All the best to you -- and a home, too -- wherever that best serves you.
Yours, Ross.[Who lives in a reality called home that's so very flattering that I can't stop staring at myself in the mirror! Don't you you just know!]
hmmm,
1) so you're using "realise" and "memorise" on purpose then? ;) tres colourful!
2) how ironic - I AM much more the "ugly american" - and yet, I'm always mistaken in the U.K. for British or Irish. I take it as a supreme compliment. Now, if only they would stop yammering on about Hotspurs or whatever and ask me about Britney Spears or the Patriots or insert_ugly_american_stereotype_here.
smiles, washwords
My writing style hovers over the mid-atlantic, which is exactly the effect I like to give my FlightKL18 readers. When I'm particularly conscious, I gear my spelling towards the content (American content gets color and realize, while Brit content gets centre and analyse).
Great to hear from you...
Mike
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