Double standards 03 (London)

German friend, Bernhard — whom I first met in 1978 — would have a regular moan about Britain: the way things are done (or not done) here.

“Why don’t they have double glazing?  All that heat lost!  The fuel bills!  Double and secondary glazing is common on the continent, and has been in place for ages.”

“No mixer taps!  The cold tap’s water is too cold.  You get scalded by the hot water from the hot tap.  You have to cup your hands to catch the cold water, then move over to the hot tap to add hot water, but by the time you get there, you’ve lost most of it.”

And so on.

After listening to this for about seven years, I said to him, “If you find living here so frustrating, why don’t you move back to Germany?”  (I wasn’t being defensive on Britain’s behalf, just having a conversation.)

His reply was: “Oh no!  I couldn’t live in Germany!!  Too regimented for me!”  Haha.

Another German, Stefan — a SOAS alumnus like Bernhard — and I were walking along in Chinatown, on our way to a meal.  He said,

“Look at this!  Bags of rubbish left on the pavements for days, uncollected.  Streets not properly swept.  Litter left by inconsiderate pedestrians.”

Then, he added, without even being challenged by me:

“But if you give me a choice between living here with all this and going back to Germany where everything runs efficiently, I’d choose here any time!”  Haha.

(London, 1970s–1980s)