London, England: home to countless historic landmarks, numerous diverse neighborhoods, the tube system, cathedrals aplenty, pubs on every corner, the Thames and the miserable people that live there. Yes, miserable. You would think that living in a place like London; full of sights, sounds,and possibilities, would fill people with joy, but that is far from the bloody truth.
Picture this: You wake up, eat some beans on toast, (yes the beans are cold), and head to the tube station. As you walk you are met not with smiles, head nods, or eye contact, but with sneers, frowns and shoulder-checks. You think to yourself, “maybe they are just upset because of the weather outside! It’s always gloomy and rainy in London.” You get to the tube station, now sheltered from the doom and gloom of Mother Nature, thinking that maybe the mood will lighten up. Oh, but that’s where you are wrong. Now you are going down the escalator, heading for the platform, as you continue along, some woman is calling another a “wanker” for not getting her Oyster Card out fast enough. A busker is playing a terrible cover of the Beatles “Yesterday” on the harmonica. A man with a briefcase tells you to hurry up and “bugger off.” Yikes. You get on the tube and take a seat, looking around at the faces of the Londoners. No smiles. No laughter. The child sitting across from you looks forlorn like the tube just ran his puppy over. Some guy is staring at you with drool hanging from the left side of his mouth. They are miserable and now so are you.
This January Term, I went on a personal quest to find out why Londoners are so miserable, and before you jump to conclusions, it’s not because of London’s notoriously terrible weather. While our group was there, the sun shined only three days during the month, and the rest? Wet. Dark. Dreary. Though this is the case, this is not what makes Londoners gloomy. Sure it definitely adds to the effect of their miserableness as they grumble on their way to work, but it’s not the culprit.
Our group also learned much about the colonial past and present of England, so maybe, Londoners are grappling with the existential dread of their countries history and doings. But I don’t think so, because we also learned that England is really great at censoring their problematic history to the general public. So how would they even know! Me: 1. The British Museum: 0.
I thought, perhaps it is their cuisine. If it were me, waking up and eating toast with cold beans every morning would definitely put me in a sour mood. Maybe the mushy peas have a part to play as well? Wrong again. The source of the Londoner gloom is much simpler I found. It’s their lack of water intake.
Through my quest of finding the source of their miserable nature, I realized that they are frightfully dehydrated. Izzy Goldschmidt, a sophomore History, Political Science, and French Major who attended the trip, said that “there was literally no water bottle fillers anywhere.” It’s true. The only water you could fill a water-bottle up with for miles was quite literally the Thames. If you want water in a museum, good luck and I hope you have 6 pounds handy so you can buy a bottle of water because there are no drinking fountains in sight! Feeling thirsty at a restaurant? That will be 5 pounds for an 8 ounce glass of still water! Want to bring a water bottle with you? Sure, but have fun finding somewhere to fill it up that isn’t the toilet! I was stunned and appalled (and dehydrated). I did not think that my personal quest to find the source of dread in Londoners would lead me to the simple answer of water intake, but here we are. So if you are ever in London and are brought down by the miserable, grumpy, drooling faces on the tube, maybe just offer them a bottle of water.
