Tag: Englishman in New York

Back in 2011 I fell out of love

Post author By The Burble....
Post date May 8, 2016
No Comments on Back in 2011 I fell out of love

As anyone who read my last post knows I have just returned to the UK after an 8 year absence. And it doesn’t feel like home. Maybe this post explains some of it. Maybe not but I still feeling a little melancholy being back in the UK. I hope that this changes as I have so much to look forward to this year.

This is how is was.

I guess it has happened to all of us at sometime in our lives.

You wake up one morning and something just doesn’t feel quite right; you’re not quite sure what it is but something definitely doesn’t feel right. So you ignore it, go on admit you this is how you deal with it when you know its not quite right but you can’t put your finger on it.

So you carry on hoping everything will be OK but somehow that nagging itch just won’t go away. You even try harder – you really want to be in love again. Indeed you go out of your way to look for all the good things, the words, the views, the deep meaningful glances that you’ve treasured for so long. But somehow that itch keeps needing to be scratched and whatever you do it just seems to be there.

So for a while you ignore everything negative, you’ve convinced yourself that it is something to do with you and therefore best to leave everything as it is. You go on as if nothing has happened and you feel happy, you look at everything with rose colored glasses and the world is a happy place again. You were right it was all your fault, you’re just feeling a bit down and missing the sun or something and really everything is OK.

The problem is that it isn’t. You know it and now so do your best friends. They can see that you’ve lost a bit of your desire and verve and that you’re just not quite as happy as you used to be. Even when they can still see how happy they are and really nothing has changed so you should be as happy as them, they know, they can tell, they can see it in your eyes. They even try to help. really its not that bad, it will get better, it will be better than it was.

The problem is that you know it won’t be.

So you begin to think about it, giving shape and form to this nameless concern, this feeling, this worry. It grows, begins to take over your days and all of a sudden a lot of the good things you’ve grown up with all of a sudden feel grayer than they did before. What was obvious yesterday becomes questionable. What was the bedrock of your being a week ago begins to suffer a series of quakes varying an increasing Richter scale number. Everything begins to shake and your solid base begins to liquefy and all of s sudden you’re afloat being tossed about and trying to find you’re way back to solid ground. You’re cross and angry; how could this have happened after all the work and effort you’re put in; of course you could have done more but you did enough.

YES I DID ENOUGH.

You eventually get to a place where the storms subside a bit and you get to think. Maybe everything isn’t quite as good as you thought originally. Maybe you do need to do something about it. Maybe the time is now, you never did really feel attached, you’ve always looked elsewhere. You look for justification of what you’re thinking and miraculously it is everywhere. It’s straight into your face 24 hours a day – how could you have been so stupid. Isn’t it obvious, it clearly isn’t right, its just got to change, you’ve got to do something about it and you need to do it NOW.

All of a sudden the way ahead is clear.

You’re friends can see you’ve changed. They know what is coming, they know they will have to help and get you through this whatever may happen. That’s what friends are for, even if they don’t like it they dust off their smiling faces and get themselves aligned to help.

But in this case there isn’t anything they can do.

I’ve fallen out of love with my home country.

At the end of the day I will always be a confused mix of English and British. I have a lot to be proud of coming from a nation that has done a lot of good (and a lot of bad that I am not proud of) but I simply don’t recognize the country anymore. I am not sure anywhere else is better but that’s not the point. I don’t feel happy with my home country anymore and maybe in a while I will tell you why.

Tags Englishman in New York, People, Travel

Uncategorized

For cultural sensitivity training – take a taxi

Post author By The Burble....
Post date January 30, 2015
No Comments on For cultural sensitivity training – take a taxi

I have to admit that I probably take too many taxi journeys in Hong Kong. And the only justification I really have is that they are a very easy and cheap way to get around town. I know that they are not the most environmentally friendly alternative – although even in Hong Kong there are now a few Prius taxis, and that they clog up the highway but I still take them.

They work and that’s very important. And not only that, as I have discovered taxi’s are a great way of learning a bit about a different culture.

Like taxi’s all over the world the way the Hong Kong system works remains a mystery to me. Why for instance does a taxi driver need 6 or more phones on the dashboard? Apparently to make sure that they can give a personal number to a preferred client who can call them directly. I suspect no client is ever going to know that someone else is also using the same number but that’s Hong Kong for you.

I am fortunate to live in an area where local taxi drivers tend to park overnight. Great news in the morning if you get your timing right. Hint, leave at 7 to 730am. Get it wrong and you can be waiting for a while. Just don’t think about trying to get a taxi at 4pm as this is shift change time.

And if you’re in Hong Kong I’d really recommend you download the Hong Kong Taxi App which is an absolute lifesaver.

Oh and sit in the back.

In Sydney however sit in the front. It took me a long time to work out why when I got in a taxi the front seat was pushed so far back. Coming from the UK where you actually can’t sit in the front of a black cab I’m afraid I always sit in the back. Which in Sydney is the wrong thing to do. For some reason the driver wants company; and wants to talk to you. Now taxi drivers in London are known for being talkative but I’m afraid are just not in the same league as in Sydney – and I never thought I would say that. So be prepared to talk. And being new to the country and not knowing anything about local politics/sport/celebrities/weather etc. is no excuse for silence.

In Italy, where I have just come back from, sit in the back, put a seatbelt on and if I may suggest, a crash helmet and full body armor. Now I know stereotypes are dangerous but I have not been as scared in the back of a taxi for a long time, nor as close to the car in front. I thought we had actually got into the back of the car in front at one point. I wonder if you order your dents at the same time as you order your car to save the hassle of actually crashing into someone.

New York is of course a completely different experience. You either climb into the back of an old Ford Crown Victoria or the slightly newer Ford Escape. Remarkably both are rubbish which is quite an achievement. The Victoria has no suspension and the Escape (never was a name less deserved) has no room in the back. Literally no room, as the screen that is installed between the front and the back takes up all the room. Cutting your legs off is the only way to fit. And both taxi’s come with a driver who will almost certainly have no idea where you are or where you want to go. In a city like New York that is largely a grid pattern it is a mystery how authorities manage to find so many people with no sense of direction. I really think I should have been paid by the driver in some cases.

However the prize for the best taxi service goes to (drumroll please) Bangalore.

I suspect some might be surprised by this choice but let me elaborate. As service goes picking my bags up from the front desk of the hotel isn’t that uncommon. Nor is getting my cases out of the back when we arrived at the airport. What was slightly unusual was the insistence of the taxi driver to accompany me to the check in desk, and then thru security, and then thru the gate and onto the plane, and finally waving goodbye only after providing me with a glass of champagne. And then only accepting what the meter showed.

Taxi’s teach you something about a country and its people. If you want to know more get a bus. But that’s a whole different story.

Let me know your taxi experiences

Tags Business, company, Customers, Englishman in New York, Hong Kong

Change Communication Customers

I thought you said this was about business?

Post author By The Burble....
Post date August 24, 2014
No Comments on I thought you said this was about business?

Well yes I did but you’ll have to forgive me if I take a look at some other things. I will try and be a good business person and focus a bit more. And todays posting is all about communication. Communication and how to design a business that people want to work in.

Communication is extremely important in the world in which we live and work today. This is even more important if you’re looking to do business in another country.

Image courtesy of porbital / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As an Englishman in New York I was, even after over 3 years, still surprised about how differently the British and Americans use the English language. Sometimes even though I try and speak the same language I’m afraid my version of English sometimes means I don’t always communicate as clearly as I could.

Obviously I’d prefer it if I could have encouraged my American friends and colleagues to speak the right version of English but after 36 months of trying I am close to admitting defeat.

Tags Business, business person, Communication, Customers, Englishman in New York, Language, New Zealand, United States