Ah, it's been a while, hasn't it. I am happy to say I have survived London (and hellish roommates) and I made it back to the good ol' U.S.of A. in one piece. But I discovered that I hate the people of London! They are the snobbiest, rudest, most thoughtless people in the world and I would gladly tell 'em to stick it up his 'arse' before I'd piss in his mouth if his teeth were on fire! But I feel that way about anyone who believes firmly in stereotypes, as the most of them tend to do. You see, everywhere I went, I was asked if I was Canadian. Now we all know that Canada isn't a real country and any self-respecting American would take that as an insult. :P So of course I said proudly that I was not Canadian, and what responses did I get? Well one drunken fool on a bus decided to declare to me that "Americans are all a bunch of fuckin' wankers!" (this was also coming from a guy who had nothing better to brag about than his pork... loser.) I tried to ask him why he thought this about Americans, but he just belched out the stench of whiskey and continued bragging about his pigs' asses. After talking to a few people, I learned that apparently they are under the impression that Americans think they are better than everyone else. Ok, so we're the world power (they just hate to be reminded of that one, hee-hee) and the U.K. is like a century behind the rest of the world in their technology, but that doesn't mean that they have to have a chip on their shoulders and automatically think that every American they meet is a "fuckin' wanker!" Don't they know that everyone is different and that the images they get from TV are not necessarily the way things really are? And yes, they do believe everything they see on our sitcoms and movies... too bad Hollywood is the representative of our country instead of the people. Apparently they also think that we are a bunch of gun-toting gangsters and rednecks... Ok, so we are, but Hey! Many of us don't want "the right to bear arms" and I am one if favor of gun control laws! But they think that every American on the streets is carrying a piece. One night I was on a payphone and some guy came up and started harrassing me. I kept telling him to leave me alone but he wouldn't. Finally, I got pissed and dropped the phone and screamed in his face that I was on a long distance call and to leave me the fuck alone. The guy's eyes nearly popped out of his head and he yelled, "Oh my god! You're a bloody American!" So I screamed, "That's right! And I'll kick your sorry ass if you don't leave me alone!" And get this: the guy actually RAN AWAY! I asked a few Brits about that later and they confirmed that sometimes it really is that easy to intimidate them just by telling them you're American and showing an attitude to go along with it. They must really think we are ruthless or something! Hee hee, if you're not ruthless and on the edge of killing someone already, go live with in London for a few months and you will be! Anyway, so I learned that although London is an incredibly beautiful city, it's people are quite the opposite.(I did find nice folks outside of the city though) ~EC~