Travel 2017 - Etiquette for Tourists, London
This is not about visiting London, more about being a visitor to London.
Dear London Tourists! We need to talk. Really, really we do. While I'm sure we all appreciate the amount of money you bring to the now-benighted-by-Brexit-UK, and we are grateful that you buy all that jam while you're here, there are one or two things you could do to make yourselves better appreciated, as you stroll around the museums and monuments of our capital city.
First let me pose the question. Have you been sworn at or pushed aside by Londoners? You have? Did you think they were all terribly rude? And what were you doing at the time? Walking slowly staring down at your mobile instead of watching where you were going? Meandering along looking at things and abruptly stopping dead in the middle of the pavement regardless of how busy it was? Taking up the entire pavement so no one going faster than you or coming along in the opposite direction can get past you?
I know you're here on holiday and have all the time in the world, but some of us don't. We have jobs to get to and trains to catch and meetings to attend and events that won't wait for us to get there, and we're stressed enough without having to deal with people acting like unexpected road blocks and getting underfoot and then looking surprised when we snarl.
So please remember not everyone is on holiday. You're in a working city, not a giant theme park, and we'll all get along a lot better if you bear that in mind! Please, just be aware of your surroundings and think about your timings. For example, between 5 and 7pm it's likely a lot of us are rushing to get home, and we'd like to start our 60-120 minute commute as rapidly as possible. We won't take kindly to being held up by people lollygagging around. You'll enjoy your holiday and people like me won't be more stressed by working there than we already are.
Thank you! Now have a lovely holiday!
Dear London Tourists! We need to talk. Really, really we do. While I'm sure we all appreciate the amount of money you bring to the now-benighted-by-Brexit-UK, and we are grateful that you buy all that jam while you're here, there are one or two things you could do to make yourselves better appreciated, as you stroll around the museums and monuments of our capital city.
First let me pose the question. Have you been sworn at or pushed aside by Londoners? You have? Did you think they were all terribly rude? And what were you doing at the time? Walking slowly staring down at your mobile instead of watching where you were going? Meandering along looking at things and abruptly stopping dead in the middle of the pavement regardless of how busy it was? Taking up the entire pavement so no one going faster than you or coming along in the opposite direction can get past you?
I know you're here on holiday and have all the time in the world, but some of us don't. We have jobs to get to and trains to catch and meetings to attend and events that won't wait for us to get there, and we're stressed enough without having to deal with people acting like unexpected road blocks and getting underfoot and then looking surprised when we snarl.
So please remember not everyone is on holiday. You're in a working city, not a giant theme park, and we'll all get along a lot better if you bear that in mind! Please, just be aware of your surroundings and think about your timings. For example, between 5 and 7pm it's likely a lot of us are rushing to get home, and we'd like to start our 60-120 minute commute as rapidly as possible. We won't take kindly to being held up by people lollygagging around. You'll enjoy your holiday and people like me won't be more stressed by working there than we already are.
Thank you! Now have a lovely holiday!