Meet Tim
I interviewed a London musician
See? I’m not just running around sightseeing, drinking, eating, and getting lost (I got lost yesterday and came upon Royal Albert Hall). I’m working here. I got talking to a musician yesterday at the Prince Alfred Pub and saw he had some smart and interesting views, so I interviewed him. He’s a rock star.
Here’s Tim.
I hope to do more interviews during this trip.
I liked hearing the band did some Petty and Foo Fighters in their set. I also enjoyed the interview — Tim is one guy, but it does give me hope that there are a lot more people around the world who will challenge those who believe nationalism is the best choice. We should be working together to create a world that will be accepting and healthy for all people, or is that too Pollyanna-ish? Populism is at an all-time high in my circle (which admittedly, isn’t all that big), but the anger at the “haves” by those who perceive themselves as “have nots” (and some folks are truly “have-nots” — I don’t want to discount that) is something that will be with us for a long time. And I think it’s the younger “Boomers” and the Gen Xers who are the most pissed off, at least from where I sit. Of course, the older Boomers are pretty pissed off too.
And I see now that “respite” was not what you had in mind for this trip. We are all the better for that. Thank you. And have fun!
Londoners (like Tim) are far more woke than most Brits. I lived in Denmark for 10 years prior to moving to the UK, where I lived for six. I lived in the south, in Kent (with Essex, the home of the chav) and the people I lived among were generally Tories. They wished for the days of the empire, hated the EU, hated being a backwater and were generally anti-immigrant (as are the Danes.) They were also virulently anti-semitic. So, too, in the North (not as overtly anti-semitic, but anti-Islamic and anti-EU.) I worked in a research institute that had been privatized under Major's government. If not for London (an hour away by train), I would have been miserable. But London, like many capitol cities, is far more cosmopolitan. Classism is far more prevalent in the UK (both class consciousness and snobbery - which works both ways.) Anyway, Tim seems very much a Londoner, very articulate - although I observed that the English, like Americans, have limited vocabularies. You were fortunate to meet him, as I found people like him to be the exception, not the rule. I wonder which football club he supports. While I'm not a great fan, I preferred West Ham United to any of the other London clubs (Billy Bragg likes them, too): notably Tottenham Hotspur (great name, but informally referred to as the Yids, with no sense of embarrassment or shame); Arsenal; Chelsea. Football is where British racism thrives. Now that I live in Spain, I miss Indian and Chinese take-out, but not much else.
Enjoy your trip. It's a better place to visit than to live.