It's All Greek To Me

I made it into Manchester city centre today. I ran into Shawn from Capetown and Dimitre from Athens at the University House where a Welcome Programme is being held for international students. They were planning on walking into the city so I thought I would join them.

First impressions easily convey that there is a lot more money in Manchester than in Salford. The main city centre is a mix of historic, brick buildings and modern arcitechure. Right into the heart of Manchester there are a few streets for pedestrians only, where pubs and shops all bask in the glory of the hoards of people. Night life will be interesting.

The trip was uneventful though. I stood outside of HSBC waiting for Dimitre to sort out some sort of money dilemma. Just from today's experience, I would say that Canadians have a lot more in common with South Africans than Greeks.

Dimitre never broke stride at crosswalks, stopping to look for oncoming traffic only once he was halfway into the street. His approach to locals for directions was abrupt and matter-of-fact, but no matter how many times he asked for directions--his sense of direction was horrible. He was dramatic, arrogant and perfectly assured of himself.

Shawn, on the other hand, was reserved and more thoughtfully spoken. His intuition about crossing streets (look before you cross), was aligned with my own, and he never attempted to pinch my cheek--yes, the former did pinch my cheek.

I've met a handful more British too: Saffron has moved into the house, she's from nearby and so is her friend, Bill, who is staying in another house. Sophia has also moved into the house--from York, or Yawwrk as she pronounces it. And then there is Ralph (pronounced Raife), a gay Brit from Southern England who isn't in this house but who thinks he might be more often due to the lack of English speaking roomates in his own place.

We had a discussion about the difference between Northern and Southern Englanders, much the same as any differences between the Thompson-Okanagan and the Coast, or Western Canadians and Easterners, or South Kamloops and North Kamloops. Everyone will tell you their opinion, everyone has their loyalties; but from what I can tell, we only point out the differences because they are more interesting than the similarities, not necessarily because they are more abundant.