I Found the Friendly Londoners. They were Hiding under London Bridge.

The past five days in London have been marvelous. The unusually glorious weather has continued. Our discussions of my beloved author Oscar Wilde were intriguing and the paintings of the National Gallery, several of which featured the recently discussed story of Salome, were breathtaking. Most notably, what have become known to us as the notoriously evil people of London, do not seem so evil any longer. In fact, over the last few days of our trip, several have proven to be amongst the most lovely, inviting people I have ever encountered.

I first discovered a heart in a Londoner on the train returning from our day trip to Brighton. After meeting such friendly, artsy shop vendors throughout the small beach town, several of us were despondent to go back to the grimacing residents of London. Whereas Brighton held strangers who actually complimented us (granted they may have been nice simply because we bought half the town), London overflowed with people who glared as we passed complimenting them. So when a stranger started speaking to me on the train ride back “home”, I nearly almost jumped! The young man in his thirties, who we later found out to be named Matt, began the conversation with just small chit chat, asking where we were from and how we were enjoying our stay, and just this small bantering was refreshing enough. But as we neared our stop to get off the train and switch to the underground, Matt invited us to go along with him to his brother’s pub and have a drink on him. Was this really happening? A resident of London spoke to me and then INVITED me somewhere, to have a drink on HIM? I couldn’t believe it. It was an opportunity we couldn’t turn down. So we stumbled along behind him to a pub outside London Bridge and wound up in the middle of his older brother’s Stag Do, a Bachelor’s party back in the states. Now yes I know that may sound quite dangerous, but what back home usually involves blackout drinking and strippers, actually here was only a gathering of family. This was the exact encounter with Londoners I had been dying to have. The people were so friendly, absolutely hilarious, and quite helpful. Matt marked up my map with all the cool places to shop, eat and dance, and when I was leaving his brother offered (unnecessarily but graciously) me his Oyster card to get home. The icing on the cake: the USA World Cup game was on. I was ecstatic. The scene felt as though it had been scripted from my book of London dreams.

I decided I must return home once the game ended, but upon an irresistible invite to come back tomorrow to watch the huge England vs. Germany soccer (football) game, I traveled to the pub again the next day. Joined by the fiancé of Matt’s brother and her girlfriends, this outing, in spite of England’s sad loss, was even more fun. Free drinks for me flowed continuously, and most importantly the ladies were absolutely wonderful. By the end of the night I was invited to go on a shopping tour with one and stay in Ireland the next weekend with another. Wary of me traveling home alone after drinking, Matt then escorted me back to our flat, serving as a tour guide along the way. Most appreciatively, Matt respected my privacy, and stopped at the corner of our street rather than in front of the flat in our arrival at my temporary London home.

The whole experience was delightful. In the heart of the city I found that there are actually people in London who have a heart. As much as I would like to take up the offer for the shopping trip, I did first meet Matt coming from a Brighton shopping trip that wiped out my wallet, so that probably will not happen. But I will let you know if I stumble across another good time with some old fashioned London Blokes : )