When I got to London, I made it my goal to use services like Ubers and Taxis the least amount I possibly could. Not only for the price (the GBP to CAD conversion is very painful), but also because the London transit system is one of the greatest and well-serviced in the entire world. The tube had to become my friend if I was to make it to work on time! Specifically, the Central line – the red one without any semblance of air conditioning. Because of the slightly cooler weather than back home, this was not very much of a problem yet.
As part of my exploration using London Transit, I challenged myself to use my first full weekend abroad to see if I could find a birthday present for my stylish best friend back home – as such, my first solo expedition (no help from local friends or work colleagues) would be to the Portobello road and Brick Lane vintage shopping areas, on recommendation from my supervisor. From where I lived, this required a few transfers from the overground, to the underground, and then to a bus. As someone used to the Toronto transit system, this line-jumping was not unusual – however, what was unusual was having to pay separately for every different transit line or option I used. That hurt! Nonetheless, I found a very cool jean jacket for my friend, tried out London’s bubble tea shops, and ended the weekend with some friends and some pints.
At work this week, I attended to a project that, while related to my LiA’s main objective, was a small bit of a side quest. This was a presentation to be given to interested government parties about why the UK government should add gender-based hate crimes into the kind of attacks classified (and logged in UK crime data) as hate crimes, and how this addition should be carried out and communicated to the public. Coming from a Canadian perspective, it had always seemed to me that places such as the UK and other parts of Europe are always a bit ahead of us when it comes to protections for women – but this omission of gender-based hate crimes from UK crime statistics speaks volumes about how the UK listens to women about our broad and shared endangerment by a misogynistic society. This work was so enlightening for me, and while it won’t be finished before I leave, I was extremely glad to help out with it.