Today I would like to write a third-person blog entry.
It was June 10, 2009, Mr. Smiley got up around 8 a.m., after breakfast, he went to the South Kensington to catch a bus. It was the 2nd day of the London Underground strike in 2009. Perhaps in England, people have got used to the strikes. In our eyes, this seems to be an annual event or even called the celebration. What for? I don’t know. As we know the ticket price for the underground has been raised a few months ago. In such a recession, what do the workers still want? Inflation is too high maybe even in this recession?
Smiley doesn’t often go to college by bus or tube, but it was special that day as he needed to catch a train at London Bridge Railway Station to Brighton. Somehow, but Smiley doesn’t know how Ivan didn’t get the cheap ticket he recommended to Ivan a few days ago. They could have bought a return ticket for 5.95 pounds knowing that they all had a young person card. Then the tickets were bought for more than 13 pounds. And as Smiley and Ivan don’t live near to each other, Ivan had bought a ticket to 3 of them who were going to Brighton together. So what’s the point? Ivan suggested Smiley to go to Waterloo Station to collect his own ticket so that he could leave at Victoria Station while Ivan and his “daughter” could leave at London Bridge. Things started becoming confusing. We’d better not talk more about this.
As Smiley wanted to depart earlier just in case of the traffic jam, he left much earlier than the website had suggested. When Smiley reached the Bus Stop, the tiny piece of land was stuffed with passengers awaiting, much more spectacular than can usually see. But that was to be expected as the tube strike would doubtlessly cause some chaos above ground since more people who were going to work or school would have to drive, to walk or to take a bus. Moreover, there was some roadwork going on around the corner. What a mess!
Smiley, as a student of civil engineering thinks that that might be what they would be doing after they graduate as roadwork seems to be more common than new construction.
Smiley walked closer to the information board at the stop and checked the route of the bus. It seemed to be going to the right direction as the end of route was the Elephant & Castle. Smiley lives somewhere near to the Fulham Road, and as he thought, the London Bridge Station should be somewhere to the north east of his residence, so he took the bus moving northwards. The bus moved towards the Exhibition Road, passing through the Science Museum and Imperial College. Ah! Now he knew that Bus 360 went around the college. The bus kept moving and passed the Royal Albert Hall. Then it experienced a left turn into westwards direction… What? Smiley was still not aware of anything. Not long after that, the bus reached the Holy Trinity Church which is near to the Beit Hall and at the rear entrance of Imperial College. Oh la la! Smiley was dumb and then driven off the bus by the driver since that was the last stop.
This appeared to be the first time for him to take a bus in the opposite direction. And there seemed to be a few more of passengers who were being silly as him as well. Now this “360” really took him for a joyride around for 360 degrees from one end of the route to the other. He was annoyed although he had won a chance to stay longer on the bus for the fixed amount of cash he had paid.
It started raining heavily outside the bus and it was about 9:30. But Ivan asked him to meet up at 10:30 at London Bridge Station as the train would leave around 10:45. What could Smiley do? Basically nothing. The bus from South Ken to Ele-castle would take at least 40min (it turned out to be one hour on that day), and then it would take at least another 16min to reach the station by bus. There was no way he was gonna make it. The transport in London was hopeless. The more modern a city is, the more vulnerable it might be as a huge international city like this would highly rely on the tube for a public transport.
The bus is an alternative, but for many people, the bus system couldn’t take to everywhere you want and it is pretty slow compared with the tube. So we could say that the tube kind of has monopolistic power. That’s one of the reasons why the workers dared to go on strike. Since people rely on the tube too much, every time the tube stops working, thousands of commuters would be affected. According to the Evening Standard, 150k workers failed to get to work due to this strike although some parts of the lines were still working. I ain’t an economist, so I wouldn’t be able to estimate how much damage this might cause to the economy. Some could argue that this was an irresponsible behaviour to the society which leads to negative externalities. Of course, some attention should be paid to the tube workers as well. But it might be better if a beggar isn’t greedy and doesn’t ask for more when he’s already been given a lot.
So why did they choose this day for travelling? On the previous day, the official spokesman Ivanski pronounced that “forecast light showers on 10 and heavy showers on 11”. In other words… the day with fewer raindrops were chosen, but why not pick up a day that was forecasted to be sunny? (Well, Smiley always has too many questions.)
The bus stopped every 5m, and saw a traffic light every 50m. 50min later, Smiley got off at the EC stop after which he wanted to catch a bus to London Bridge Station. Then he realized there were ABCDEF…S… couldn’t remember how many of them were there. The people waiting at the stop were not helping, but after reading the map at the stop, he figured it out soon by himself.
The bus was really creeping on the way in the cats and dogs rain. Smiley didn’t even know which stop to get off as the screen didn’t show anything useful. Luckily the old man standing next to him was getting off at London Bridge as well. The old man spoke with a London accent and he was quite humorous and kept making jokes. But Smiley was told that he wouldn’t be able to reach the station by 10:50 which made him worried. Smiley was a bit desperate, he sent Ivan a message, asking him to leave and he would probably buy another ticket. When he finished texting, he turned to the man next to him,“I hope this msg travels faster than this bus as I’ve heard that sometimes the msg won’t reach until the day after.”
“People came and went and walked away”. By the time the bus reached the London Bridge bus stop. Smiley took a look at his watch. It was 10:47 already. The old man again made fun of Smiley, “I think your watch is too fast. Mine is just 5 to.” Smiley couldn't stop smiling stupidly as usual, and then he pointed to the clock outside the train station. It was telling exactly the same time as his watch. The old man then hunched his shoulders, “There you go then…” with sympathetic look on his face.
After saying thanks to the old man, Smiley ran across the road towards the station which was pointed out by the man previously. Luckily the train didn’t come until 10:56. Ivan did a great job as making the meeting time sufficiently early saves lots of troubles especially when people arrive late. (Well, although Smiley wasn’t always late)
By the time they entered Bellerbys Brighton it was 12:50. And a security guard was sitting at the entrance, which there was none when Smiley was studying there. Lily said this all happened after Smiley left and since then the safety level has risen. Was it Smiley’s fault? Did he have that power?
The first person Smiley wanted to see was no doubt Pat, the librarian. He hadn’t seen her for more than half a year by then. Remember every time Pat tried to help him sort things out when he was in need? She always tried to comfort him when he felt stressed. Pat said if he wanted, he could always email her even in uni. Without her support, the harsh A2 (not quite compared with uni) life wouldn’t have passed so smoothly. She is not only a great librarian, but also a psychologist and friend.
Smiley tiptoed towards the A2 students he knew (actually most of the students in the library), and this made them shocked and some even screamed. Nobody would expect him to revisit the college. Sharon, Joanna, Lolita, Lily, Betty and Vincent (almost everyone) seemed to be revising hard for the Physics exam in the afternoon. Yuka and Yifen were revising for other subjects.
Smiley couldn’t remember how long he had been staying in the library. But then he went to say hi to Dr. Butcher, Mr. Dixon and Mr. Bentham in the Maths Faculty. He was pouring out the “bitter water” about the uni life there, but he kept giggling. The teachers then laughed, “Well, you can still smile in such a situation. That means you are happy about it.” “Well that’s (what) his name (is about), isn’t it?” Well, “Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.” He is always like that. You suffer you cry and flush away the sorrow, purifying your mood and the sunshine is on the way. That seemed to be the essence of Smiley.
Unconsciously, Smiley started mentioning the stuff he learnt about civil engineering. Gradually, a salon seemed to be launched inside the maths office. He mentioned the design week, and then the teachers started discussing mathematics, structural mechanics, and materials and so on. This was an unexpected lesson for Smiley and he benefited a lot. It seemed that Smiley had caused a civil forum. Probably this could be called the “civilisation”. He continued to giggle, and no wonder people remember his name wrong as “Smiley”.
Dr. Butcher’s way of teaching has altered slightly as he used to use an OHP (Old HP?) in the lesson, but now he started using new HP which is more efficient. And printing out notes written down from the handwriting pad is definitely faster than photocopying films for OHP. Moreover, he can now prepare lessons in the office and no need to stay in the classroom.
Then Ivan and Smiley went to see Mrs Chris, Paula, Sioban and Mr. Bowen (He still has the teddies and gorillas with him for the Jungle Concert).
After saying bye to Pat again, they went onto the long march to the Regency, where they could exploit their appetite. They started talking about relationship. Then after dinner, they took a walk along the beach. Then they started looking for beauties on the roads. As we mentioned to Chris earlier, Ivan was busy “hunting”, but in the end he ended up accumulating or adopting daughters. Does it mean he is now more maternal? Can we say? Not sure. But there is one thing we are sure about. That is now he has something that Uncle Gary, Papa Bear and I don’t have. That’s called the Mothers’ Day!
Walking in the rain with the setting sun on one side and the grey sky on the other, it seems that there was another sky. “Bang, Bang!” The painter of nature, seagulls high above in the sky dropped their gifts and aids on our umbrellas sending their great wishes after which they flew away. And the colourful umbrella now looks more colourful in addition to the “fragrance”.
The sun played hide and seek with us going all the way westwards. The Brighton Pier was then gilt into golden with a fabulous rainbow crossing over pier and connected the ocean to the city of Brighton. Tourists stopped, stood and began to take photos. After a while, the second rainbow came into air, emerging outside the original one. They shared the same centre and appreciated the same blue sky. They leaned against each other, supporting and protecting each other, demonstrating the harmony of fusion in nature. This is how the civil engineer of the Mother Nature built remarkable bridges in the air. If only the great double rainbow extends her hands of tender to China, sending my care overseas to those who care about me! I wished you could enjoy the same rainbow with me at the same time. Or we could even ramble on the bridge of rainbow, overlooking the whole universe with the company of the shining sun, the twinkle stars and the tender moon. Let the whole universe including all the galaxies even the aliens witness the one beloved… (N.B. this has nothing to do with the Pride Parade)
“Stop daydreaming, Smiley!” shouted someone. At the same time last year, Ivan and Smiley were walking in the same streets and along the same beach, single! Now one year later, they still remained single! What does this tell us? Oh yeah, right! They longing and yearn for liberty and freedom.
On the way back to London, Smiley could have taken the train to London Victoria, where there was a direct bus to his residence, but he preferred travelling with friends, so he took the train to London Bridge with Ivan and Alex. So now he needed to change a bus. Ivan said he could walk Smiley to the Waterloo Station where direct buses to the hall could be taken, but in the end considering Ivan’s daughter’s safety, Smiley made up his mind to take a bus from the nearest bus stop to Waterloo Station after which he could get a bus home. (Ivan should have thought about this, shouldn’t he? A mother should always take care of his/her daughter, shouldn’t she? Is it one the reasons why he keeps having daughters rather than girlfriend? Hope not.)
It was raining again and it had become a bit gusty. Standing at the dim corner by himself, Smiley missed a bus when he was checking the bus route… He stood there for a long time, but no bus came. Loads of taxies passed, but none of them seemed to be in service the light above the windshield wasn’t on. Smiley was thinking that if the bus didn’t come in the following 10min, he might take a taxi if he could see any in service. Not long after that, there was really one “taxi” coming. So he was about to stop it, but then he hesitated. When the “taxi” came closer to him, he was speechless. Guess what? He saw a word “Ambulance” in the front at the light… The ambulance couldn’t have looked more similar to a taxi, especially at night, when the light of a car blind your eyes which make you unable to read any words written on it. But it seems that the light of ambulance shines sharper than the taxi.
In an international big city like London, things will surely be different. Some people might find it funny if they like shopping, clubbing or drinking. For others, London might seem to be dull. Initially, many people may have a thirst for the adventure to London to open his eyes or whatever, but what will be waiting there are not only about opportunities and fun, but also about challenges, frighten, anxiety, temptation and so on. If you are not yet ready, probably it is a better idea to stay in a smaller city, or even at home for a while as “Home is where the heart is”, and then try to get yourself prepared. Some people may laugh at you. But so what? Who cares? Trust Shiny: Keep smiling, and you will find your life enriching.
