England

I spent some time in London and Birmingham and wrote down scattered thoughts on England. I immersed myself in British historical content before I arrived so I already feel transported back to the 18th century. I’m sitting in The Wheatsheaf, a pub that George Orwell went to a lot. Orwell and the few beers I’ve had are giving me permission to make sweeping generalizations.

People are louder and more rowdy than I thought (when they’re drinking). I like that! They’re singing on the street, shouting someone’s name out, getting into a fight, making out in public. I’ve heard that British people are quite reserved, but they let themselves go with alcohol. And they can drink a lot.

I’ve heard that British people have stiffer body language and voice modulation, but I’ve not seen it when I’m here. They’re quite expressive.

England feels old. This seems obvious, but it’s the first observation you have when you walk on the streets and look at the brick houses or the Gothic cathedrals. Time has stood still for the past 300 years.

Fish and chips sucks.

London has one of the cleanest tap waters in the world. The world’s first modern and effective sewage system was built in London in the mid 19th century. Before this, there wasn’t an effective separation of sewage and clean water systems. This resulted in a few major cholera outbreaks in the early 1900s that infected River Thames and killed thousands of people. The most impressive technologies stop seeming like technologies after they’re ubiquitous, and modern sewage and water systems are one of them. London’s design inspired New York, Paris, Berlin, and other cities.

I’ve wondered how such a small island built one of the most powerful modern empires that lasted three centuries. The Industrial Revolution started in Britain around 1760, but it’s not intuitive why it should have started in such an insignificant island.

It’s not because Britain had an empire—history is full of empires, including Netherlands, Spain, China, and India. Also, Britain was much poorer than other empires of the time. The Mughal empire and Qing dynasty were each roughly a quarter of global GDP in 1700 while the British empire was a tenth of that size.

Some say that Britain industrialized first because they had a lot of coal. But many other countries had coal and didn’t industrialize first. India, Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Japan, and Spain all had coal reserves. Also, Britain always had coal but didn’t industrialized before.

What differentiated Britain was their focus on maritime technology and railroads. Ships and railroads helped transport raw materials quicker than previous systems, so it let individuals tinker and build new technologies at a faster pace than before. Environments that enable faster iteration are more innovative. For example, better transport of cotton and wool enabled inventions like the power loom, spinning jenny, and water frame.

Britain saw the value of markets and joint stock companies before most. They had a stable political system and access to risk-seeking capital. They had a culture of seeking progress. Entrepreneurial people had a desire to invent new things and extend the nation’s wealth across generations rather than to ostentatiously display it, as was common in countries like Spain and Portugal.

Brits relentlessly built things. They built maritime technology, a navy, the railroads, and the steam engine. They played a significant role in standardizing time, driven by the needs of railroads and factories. Big Ben, an iconic clock tower, became a symbol of British pride and engineering excellence. The men who discovered the laws of physics (Newton) and the theory of evolution (Darwin) were both British. By exploring the world, they encountered and solved challenging problems—the discovery that consuming vitamin C could prevent scurvy emerged from their experiences during maritime expeditions. A network of strong inventors shows what is possible and attracts like minded individuals.

The world’s economy barely grew before the industrial revolution. Before the 1800s, people would hardly experience any changes in their physical environment and lifestyle before they died. New technology like the discovery of fire or the invention of the wheel happened rarely and could only be observed over hundreds or thousands of years. Progress that is rapid enough to be noticed began only after the industrial revolution.

It’s wild that Churchill was 65 when he became Prime Minister. Everything relevant he did in his life started after he was a senior citizen.

People dress well. Better than Americans, worse than French people, better than me.

There are many smokers here. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer the city aesthetic of cigarette smokers to vapers.

Finally, people can understand when I say “water”! I don’t have to water the word down to ‘waaaterrr’ as I do in America.

I’m not a coffee person, I’m a chai and hot chocolate person. The hot chocolate in London is excellent.

Museums should have more places to sit down.

When I did find a place to sit down at the Churchill museum, I met this old man. His father and grandfather worked at the East India company, and he was in India during Indira Gandhi’s emergency rule. He described how the school curriculum and road names changed overnight when Indira Gandhi was in power.

Small talk in London is better than small talk in America.

Pubs in London are quieter than bars or cafes in New York. You can actually talk here. But I still met people at the pub who kept apologizing for being too loud.

Middle eastern food is really good here.

I know it’s English but sometimes I have no idea what people here are saying. Accents vary widely.

America has won. They’re playing American music everywhere, serving All American breakfast and Nashville fried chicken, and riding Lime scooters.

When you say thank you, people respond with ‘cheers’ instead of ‘you’re welcome’ (America), ‘no worries’ (Australia), or nothing (India).

Birmingham is the Peaky Blinders town. It was the heart of Britain’s industrial revolution, but it seems like a ghost town now. It’s a rough transition from factories to finance. 

Unlike in New York, you can actually hear the dude making announcements on the train here.

I saw a lovely show at Shakespeare’s Globe. Shakespeare was so prolific. I can’t imagine someone producing so much in one lifetime.

People say “you alright” instead of “how are you”.

I went to the Comedy Store in London. The comedians have a drier and wittier sense of humor, have a lot of puns, and talk less about sex. They’re obsessed with America—a third of the jokes were about how America sucks. American comedians don’t give a shit about Britishers.