Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Off to London today

I'm off to London today. Again. So no blogging today.

I don't know if any of you have been to London? It is a very big place with not much to see - little vegetation, few trees, no cows, so I don't know how they manage to eat, but they all seem to be reasonably well fed. Apparently they make a living by phoning each other up.

Londoners talk and walk very fast. You often have to ask them to say it again more slowly.

It is for a conference of NGOs to draft up laws that would constrain the activities of MultiNational Corporations (MNCs or TNCs). Will report back tomorrow evening.

Her is a poem I wrote in London on a previous visit:



Midas

The Thames' flat scales reflect
a sky of gold
that freely gives
much more than City men
could ever hold

(c) Richard Lawson


6 comments:

weggis said...

Hey Doc,
You need to distinguish between "Londoners" and people who just happen to be in London.

London attracts all sorts of Day-Trippers, including YOU!

Anonymous said...

I can tell which ones are Londoners. They are the ones walking and talking very fast. The Day Trippers are the ones who block the pavements by stopping and wondering where they are. And taking photographs.

I was a student in London in the 60s, but now each time I go I feel more like the bloke from Somerset.
Richard

weggis said...

Look Doc, face it you are not a local/Londoner so don’t tell me you can tell us apart. I wouldn’t dream of telling you the difference between Worzels and others.

“Day trippers” are not just tourists, they are those peeps who commute in from Kent, Sussex, Berkshire even Yorkshire and Somerset for a days work and have no real feel for the place or any attachment to it. They are the ones who walk and talk fast as you put it. We Locals/Real Londoners don’t have to. We know where we are and how to get to somewhere else in a stroll. We know the short cuts. When you see blind panic when the tube line is fucked you can tell the “Londoners” because they just saunter off knowing what to do and where to go and what the alternatives are.

You might want to look out for us when you are next here? You might find it beneficial and therapeutic?

Anonymous said...

Weggis, I would draw your attention to the warning on the mast head of this blog.

However, just to avoid conflict, I unreservedly withdraw and apologise for all offence intended or not intended that may have been caused to indigenous Londoners by incautios remarks. I aplogise also to my paternal ancestors from up the Tottenham Court Road (Lawsons Saddlery) and to my student self who polluted and endangered the streets of London in the 1960's with my Lambretta 125. Also to the droobs who may have been frightened by my seafaring mein during a Campaign Against Sea Dumping event in the mid 70s.
Richard

weggis said...

Ah Doc,
You have to realise that those of us who read your blog via a feed do not see all the wonderful widgets in your side bar or the Health Warning at the top.

But I have to ask. Is it Radio-Active and can it be used to generate Hot Air that can in turn be converted to a renewable Energy Source?

DocRichard said...

Sorry, is what radio-active?