PORTOBELLO MARKET
On Tuesday I used my debit card to take the bus to Stratford Station where I bought an Oyster card, a way to pay for bus and underground and overground that is cheaper than using the debit card.
In my wandering through the London transport system so far there has been an official person at the gate of every Underground station whose job it is to direct travelers. I am sure this isn‘t by accident and is a well planned system for helping outsiders because it is universal. Not only do these people know exactly what routes I should take, but they are also determinedly friendly. They have each been eager to give friendly advice. For an outside this is very pleasant. On my first roundabout Underground trip to my Airbnb, requiring changes at four stations: King‘s Cross, Liverpool Street, Stratford and West Ham there was a friendly official person eager to help me at each change. And so it was yesterday. I didn‘t get his name but did get his photograph.
He selected the right Oyster card for me depending upon how much I thought I would travel each day. I ended up with a 43 pound card for this week to be renewed for my second week. And this will allow me to take any transportation, bus, underground, overground, train in zones one and two, the center of London. Once done this keeps me from worrying about whether I have money enough on my card or how much a ride costs or hold back from wandering around because of cost. And then Apple Maps tells me just what kind of transportation to take, shows me where I am on each route, and guides me when I walk at each end.
The ticket sellers in Paris weren’t unfriendly, but they weren’t as determinedly friendly either. This guy and others really wanted to help me, this was what they were getting paid to do. Maybe this is because the automated computerized system is so daunting, particularly for outsiders, particularly for older outsiders, that this friendly support is a way to make an abstract digital, unfriendly system, but more efficient, palatable to people until they have mastered it and need no help. I have an ITP app on my iPhone that also gives me all the options at any time as well as telling me just where I am and will let me top up my card if I need to. So this is another cultural difference that I find very attractive.
$100 may seem a steep cost. But in Swannanoa I spend $30 a week on gas and more on insurance and repairs and would be spending a good deal on car payments if I didn‘t buy such old cars. $200 a month would be a good estimate. And certainly public transportation is much better for the planet and saves enormous parking fees. And the Underground runs smoothly, is clean and comfortable and the buses run everywhere and all the time with at the most ten minute waits for buses. And, if I wanted to, there are electric bicycles and scooters available so that I won‘t have to walk if I don‘t want to.
And all of this preamble is to get me to Portobello Market, 9 miles across London, an hour and half trip. I went because of the hype about the Market and because Kathe and I went there years ago and had a good time (until she got her wallet lifted from her shopping bag). But either Portobello Market has declined since that time into a lower class outdoor flea market or I went on the wrong day of the week, Tuesday, instead of Saturday. But I had fun taking photographs, since I wasn‘t going to buy anything anyway, and had a great Italian spaghetti meal before riding home, part of the way in the front seat of the upper deck of a scarlet double decker bus. It was a good day.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 