Knowledge Brings Fear

London calling

(Against my usual practice this travel entry is written in english, I wrote it mostly while waiting for my plane and was still in english language mode then)

On a recent trip to London I noticed some interesting changes. First, Immigration is now US-style. The setup is now big hall, long queues, lots of cameras and one-way mirrors around and "no phones, no cameras, no electronic devices" signs. Probably it has been arranged this way to make american visitors feel more comfortable. As usual in this kind of situation I had this "strong anti-authoritarian tendencies while being trapped in precisely the wrong place for them"-feeling. Another theory is that the Immigration setup will be made ever more uncomfortable to achieve positive user feedback for the introduction of biometrics in passports.

Taking the extortionary priced Heathrow Express to Paddington Train Station enhances significantly the travel experience. No more idling around for an hour in overcrowded tube trains. The LCD screens in the trains are annoying. The designer set them behind glass walls with a painted-on fade-to-gray pattern. This shrinks the available screen size and makes the subtitles unreadable.

Upon arrival in Paddington I got confused by the signs. The private ownership of railways and train station in the UK leads to a terrible cluttering of the visual space. Every rail company has ambitious designers at their disposal, that really need to invent their own different color-codes, fonts, icons etc. As little as I like the Deutsche Bahn corporate identity, it is at least not irritating as it is always the same.

Needing a bit (or some more bits) of information, orientation and silence, I had my net-finding instinct leading me to a internet place in the basement across the street. For some economically not very transparent reason they charge more money per hour when you want to connect your notebook and don't use their machines. Seems to be the same principle that is used when charging locals less then tourists in some southern countries. Laptop-users probably come from across the street, from Heathrow airport, so they will have more money... Being able to open my notebook in some corner of the world and instantly getting into my usual pre-configured set of communication and information connections is so liberating that I dont mind paying a bit more for the privilege.

After getting oriented and having verified the meetings for the day I hailed a cab for transport. London cabs are strange. There seem to be such stringent rules for safety and comfort features that only one or two companies are in selling appropriate cars. The most obvious feature are door locks that lock every time the car begins to roll and unlock every time it stops. They make this by a loud clacking noise and a red LED. I can only imagine what kind of incidents triggered this requirement. Unusual for my taste is also that the cabbie gets paid from the outside of the car.

My route took me near Buckingham Palace, where some kind of parade was going on with marching bands and golden harnessed soldier-actors on horses. The alleys have numerous steles on their sides, with statues of heroic struggles on top. Some are inscribed with the names of areas formerly belonging to the Empire (and today to the Commonwealth of Nations) and which general or lord conquered them for Queen and Country. I must confess that this Empire way of presenting raw power through architecture and this no-regrets colonialism has its advantages. It will prevent certain things from being forgotten...

Food in London was as always no culinary orgasm, but food is not a reason to go to britain anyway. It is of no use complaining, only the Netherlands are in the same category in western Europe. Of course you can get decent food when you are prepared to search a while and pay more.

The meetings went well, and astonishingly I had more then an hour left before needing to go to Paddington again for the trip to the airport. Thanks to Edith, who could not help me with an earlier flight but with an excellent hint how to spend the time: Tate Modern Gallery.

I had read about the building when it was opened and had heard from friends about it. But essentially you need to see it yourself. My immediate association: the underground hangar from StarWars. The art exhibitions are astonishing. First time in a modern art museum that really enables the understanding of modern art. And since the building has a lot of space, each piece has enough room to live.

Back to the airport, I saw one of the people I met in the morning playing with a flight simulator arcade machine. He trained landings with a 747. A bit unexpected, but very likable.
The flight was an hour late, I regretted not to have spent that hour in the Tate Modern. Arriving in Berlin, the Bundesgrenzschutz was continuing its morning practice of very thorough checks. Meaning that 200 travelers were waiting on the cold and windy tarmac to climb a narrow spiral staircase just to have their passports scrutinized at length. Looks like the US-style immigration control model that I experienced in the morning is just one of many methods for enhancing travelers acceptance of biometrics in passports.

Posted by frank at May 18, 2004 01:13 AM | TrackBack