We spent a day in London, which basically means we spent a day in the London Underground.
Our professors told us to dress in layers since it was predicted to rain quite a bit that day….
So there we were, wearing long-sleeve shirts and rain coats in 75 degree weather (23 degrees celsius) and thick humidity, cramped into glorified tissue boxes that threw us around like loose change in a tin can.
Much to our dismay, the Tube is not equipped with air conditioning. In fact, most places in London aren’t (at least from what I experienced). Consequently, we were made to sweat buckets in the company of strangers who all looked as if they were a Sarah McLachlan song away from shooting themselves in the face.
But it wasn’t all bad. At least from my book-nerd point of view. Because while trapped in the Devil’s Lipstick, I saw something I haven’t seen in quite a while in my neck of the woods: people reading paperback books in public.
I’d seen people with novels on the airplane ride over, but I’m not used to seeing people with anything other than their phones in their hand while frequenting public places.
The reason for this change is likely because there is no cell service underground. Or at least I couldn’t find any with my international plan.
Another thing I noticed as we scuttled about frantically, trying not to lose each other, is that they had advertisements for books everywhere.
They weren’t just self-help books about how to get thin that were written by celebrities either. Many of them were fiction and the effort that went in to each of them was inspiring. They looked like movie trailers, some featuring the image of their respective authors.
I wish I could have taken a few photos, but unfortunately I was trying to save memory on my phone and there wasn’t enough time to get out my other camera to take them.
It was just so uplifting to see books being given the recognition they deserve outside of a bookstore. There seems to be more emphasis on reading over there.
I could get used to that.
London, I don’t miss your Tube all that much. But I do miss seeing an appreciation for the written word in such a public way.
The Crooked Pen 