2004-06-19

Here is why I love the English: at the grocery checkout yesterday, the cashier asked me what part of America I�m from. �Actually, I�m Canadian,� I said (for the eight hundredth time). �But I�m living over here for two years.�

�Oh!� she said cheerfully. �Lucky you! You get to go back!� And for the next five minutes, while she rang up my purchases, I endeavoured to convince her that England really isn�t a horrid, miserable, depressing failure of a country. She wasn�t having any of it.

It�s a very peculiar national phenomenon. If you�re traveling in America, say, and you meet an American and you tell him that you�re in America on vacation and you�re having a great time and you think America is fantastic, he will be pleasant and enthusiastic and will agree with you. Traveling in England, if you tell a native you�ve come here on vacation, the invariable answer is, �Why?� I�m surprised that the board of tourism doesn�t put out brochures reading, �England: Why bother?�

I love it. Gloomy self-deprecation is something I can relate to. Though it does make it hard to get good recommendations for further travels within the UK. The most glowing review I can expect to receive is along the lines of, �It�s alright, I suppose. If you don�t mind the weather.�