I finished work today and decided that the best course of action I should take, to prepare myself for my MA Dissertation on walking the street is, well, to walk home (central London's Edgware Road), from Whitechapel, in East London. Crazy? I didn't think so, after all, its only 45 minutes drive.
It started pleasantly enough: 10 minutes of walking took me from the slummish area of East London where my College is, to the busy heart of Liverpool street. Men in suits, women in black shits and white shirts, all looking immaculate. What was most peculiar was that I was walking home at 5.30pm- a time which, I have seen today, is when the capital decides to 'down a few pints'. Everywhere I looked, the men and women were out in the chairs located outside the pubs, drinking, smiling, and relaxing. In Liverpool street especially, there are whole arcades dedicated to inviting drinkers to gather, and gather they certainly do. I decided to walk through one such arcade, and came out feeling as if I had knocked back a few pints myself! Such is the atmosphere. I mention this at the length I have because I had always 'connoted' (a new word I had taught my students today) Liverpool street and the City with the high end of society. 'THIS is civility', I would tell my friends as we drove past Liverpool street. I believed everything else was just the normal, the vulgar. I have seen from my walk today, however, that these 'high end' civilains are as alcohol crazed as any other people, if not more. They can afford to drink to the excessive levels they do. I have of late been trying to locate the source of the current rise in teenage binge drinking and alcoholism, and I think I have found it. I am not at all saying that the wonderful men and women in suits in Liverpool street are to blame-well, at least not entirely. The blame is on us (well, 'us' in the sense of the entire British society-I myself do not drink), the British public of adults. As we sink to new levels of depravity and excess, we can not expect much from our younger generations who look up to us. If we want to sink to such levels, we can only expeecrt as much from our younger teenagers. We need to be more responsible in terms of the role models we portray on a societal level. It is easy to act as if we are youngsters, perhaps in a vain hope not to accept that we are getting old, and that we need to set an example. If we did so, I believe we would see an improvement in the younger generation. Until we do so, we can not expect anything more from the youngers aspect of society. If we are worried about the levels of depravity and excess they are falling into on a general level, we need only to look in a mirror. We have come out the way we have due to our parentage, whose 'old fashioned' techniques, rules, and requirements which remind us of the 60s and 70s made us who we are today. What sorts of rules do we support, follow, and uphold?
I feel I have spoken enough. This was just something which became apparent to me today. I also ended up walking for 3 hours, realising that one of the better things about London (aside from the above) is that its people are so diverse. I noted the change in behaviour, clothing, even the mannerisims of people as I walked from Whitechapel, Aldgate, Liverpool street, Old Street, Islington, KIng's Cross, Marylebone, and Edgware Road.
When I have rested a while, I hope to relate my findings on the peoples from the above locations, as well as the usefulness of John Gay's poem Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking The Street-I followed its rules today, but here must I retire to my bed.
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