Joshua Zamrycki's Weblog

I had a few hours before I had to catch my flight to Scotland so I rode all over the city of London taking the necessary tourist photographs that I had neglected the week before. Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and all that Royal British stuff. I took the train to the airport and decided to catch up on some sleep that I hadn’t really had in a very long time. I woke up just as the train was pulling up to what looked like the stop for the airport but I wasn’t sure so I asked the gentleman who was sitting across from me. “Excuse me, is this the stop for the airport?” No answer. So I asked again. “Is this the stop for the airport?” The man then turned to me with the ugliest scowl I had ever seen and barked, “Why don’t you open your damn eyes and look for yourself!” He then stood up and walked off in a huff. That was peculiar. I then noticed a sign outside for the airport so I got up and followed the man off the train. I felt as if I had offended this guy so I made an attempt to apologize while we were exiting the train. I tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me…” and this obvious lover of the American accent quickly turned around and screamed, “Don’t you dare touch me!” I then thought it best to end the conversation by letting him walk ahead while I just stood there amazed. He went down the stairs and I called for the elevator because I still had my bicycle with me. I went down to the bottom and, when the doors opened and I stepped out, the same guy walked right by me. He stopped after a few steps, turned around, looked straight at me and said, “If you ever touch me again I’ll break your f—ing fingers!” I calmly replied, “Look, I don’t know what I did to offend you, but whatever it was, I’m sorry.” My new best friend then threateningly approached me and said, “I don’t know where you’re from, but this is London! You don’t ask people questions in London!” At this point my adrenaline was telling me to drop my bike and break this guy’s face but my brain quickly intervened and reminded my adrenaline that this bloke was much bigger than I was. I found myself laughing at him and all I could think of to say was, “You’re a real prick.” He gritted his teeth for a second, turned around and walked away. London really sucks.