Hmm. Culture shock. Been here five years, not here permanently (god help me if I am!). Most of the posts so far I recognize one way or another. The weird, kind of bad manners, the inability to maneuver down the street. A lot of this I never consciously registered. I just fell into a long term low level irritation every time I walked into the street. I've finally started riding a bike, which massively helps as it's great fun and I only have to deal with people in cars as potential killers of me, not as individual bodies to avoid. But the crowds are so odd. Why is it such total misery to walk down Oxford Street? Yes, it's crowded, but it is impossible to avoid bumping into people without becoming quite aggressive. My friend from New York has come to visit a few times. She always says I walk much faster than I used to and it disconcerts her. I've spent much of my life in cities- New York as a kid, then Chicago, L.A., San Francisco and Mexico City as an adult before London. I have never had to be as aggressive just to move as I am in London. I don't know if I should say I'm aggressive, I'm polite and never actually bump into people, but I see the crowds as a kind of broken video game I need to dive through just to get to the other side. In New York the crowds flow, it's kind of amazing how it happens.
In response to the post below: body checking? Do you mean men looking at you? Hmm. IN my many years here I have never even felt the eyes of a man graze across my body (I'm only half joking). It's one of the drearier aspects of living here, that I need to go to Europe or America just to flirt (I'm married, just like to feel alive every now and then!). Sunny days are the exception. As for cereal, that was another long, long struggle, finding an edible daily cereal. I used to eat granola and banana nut crunch from Trader Joe's. Britain is obviously fond of cereal but it just doesn't match what you get in the U.S. bulk bins or pretty much anywhere. The cereals are sometimes ickily sweetened and there just isn't anything as wonderful as Kashi. I eat this cheap stuff they're always discontinuing and, yes, Cheerios. Jordans has a few decent flavors as well.
