First time taking a train in the UK and I am rather appalled at the kind of behaviour of the passengers that I meet.
The Crosscountry train I am on right now is, undoubtedly, very modern, new and fast. Its interior is tastefully appointed, comparable to one of the nicer Limited Express trains in Japan, and it is probably as fast, if not faster, than a Limited Express train in Japan (its actually dark now and I can’t see anything out of the window so its hard to compare speeds). But the interior of the train is so disgustingly dirty and I had a really negative encounter with one of the passengers that I just couldn’t help but wonder: what has happened to the United Kingdom, the country that once presided over an empire that spanned a quarter of the Earth, and where once ‘the sun never sets on the British Empire’?
I remember one quote associated with former PM Lee Kuan Yew. He recalled that when he was studying in England in the past, he was pleasantly surprised by the good manners of the British people, the quintessential English gentlemen, especially how newspapers were left on a stand and people paid for them by putting coins in a box on the stand, with no vendor in sight to guard the papers or anything. Wow.
Fast forward to the present day. Haha – don’t get me started on the present state of Britain. Its a joke, really. I’m not trying to insult any British here, and indeed the UK is a fascinating developed country with a lot for the traveller to discover and many great people as well, but having just visited Japan, and coming from Singapore, I find the behaviour of some Brits downright low-class, disgusting and with no apparent consideration to the people or the environment around them.
The interior of this train may be carpeted, nice and new, but that doesn’t stop people from just throwing whatever rubbish they have onto the ground. In fact, there’s an empty sandwich packet just opposite my seat and lots of junk candy wrappers stuffed in the tiny gap between the back of the seat in front of me and the fold-out table.
And the two passengers in front of me are obviously kind of drunk and high, turning their music up so high that it positively BLASTS from the EARPHONES, and gyrating their bodies to the sound of party music, whilst discussing some topics that are obviously of great concern to them, as the volume of their conversation would suggest.
The most ridiculous encounter happened as I boarded the train. I headed to my reserved seat in Coach F, only to be told by the female passenger occupying it that I was on the ‘wrong train’! She claimed matter-of-factly that my ticket said that I had to alight at Cheltenham even though it was obviously printed on it that it was Cheltenham to Derby. Its my first time on a British train, and I double-checked many times that I got on the right train (The conductor later also affirmed this while stamping my train ticket). I am absolutely sure the passenger herself knows I’m on the right train, and that it was my correct seat too. I can only surmise that the reason she lied to me so nonchalantly was because she had already made herself so comfortable in her seat with her friend next to her that she didn’t want to move, and it was simply more convenient to tell me I was on the wrong train and hoped that I get off!
As you can probably tell, I’m quite angry about it, although I didn’t show it then. I just went to another seat and sat down. Imagine if I were a non-English speaking tourist from China/Japan and thought that I had made a genuine mistake, and alighted from the train before it even departed, thereby voiding my train ticket. What appalling behaviour by the passenger!
Anyway, for the sake of a balanced argument, let me list some positive attributes that the British have. After over 10 days here, the thing that stands out most is that they always open the door for the person behind them. And they are rather friendly when greeting strangers in the instance of entering a shop and the shopkeeper asking ‘are you alright there’ and ‘how are you’, and the shoppers replying them, as well as saying thank you as they leave the shop, even if they don’t buy anything.
Okay. That’s actually the only two positive attributes I can think of. The negative: they don’t really think twice before they litter, they think nothing of pissing on the streets at night, they spit chewing gum on the streets which result in white-pockmarked sidewalks in London, they are rather cold towards strangers in most encounters (but they don’t ignore you at least), and they have no awareness of their surroundings most of the time, and love to blast loud music etc. Don’t even get me started on how dirty London is!
Really, Singaporeans should be proud of what we have. I know I am now.
PS I am suddenly reminded of two very ‘fascinating’ experiences in Japan when I saw two old men, in Tokyo and Osaka respectively, shitting on the streets in broad daylight (yes, its into the recycle bin and onto the sidewalk respectively, and not in a toilet). And that’s in Japan!
I know I’m being harsh on the British, but really, I was so frustrated and just had to vent all my anger.
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