A London First

I bumped into someone I know on the Tube today!!!

Okay, to fully appreciate how exciting and unexpected this was, first you need to know that London has a population of 7.5 million people, and that after living here for almost a year, I know approximately ten of them. Second, you need to know what my life in Vancouver was like.

I lived in Vancouver for about 12 years, longer than I’ve lived anywhere else in my adult life. The population of Vancouver is anywhere from half a million to two million, depending on where you draw your borders, but statistics aside I can tell you this: if you live there for long enough it starts to feel a bit like a small town.

Vancouver is a beautiful city. Those of you who have been there will know what I am talking about; those of you who haven’t will find reasons to visit here, here and here. And here. (Okay, feeling just a wee bit homesick now.)

But after 12 years of being a student, a teacher, a volunteer within various organizations and a keen participant in all kinds of community activities, it became difficult to go anywhere in Vancouver without bumping into someone I knew. Not a bad thing, mind, but by the time I made the decision to move to Tokyo to be with my partner, I was ready for a change.

And did I ever get one! I don’t think I was fully prepared for the anonymity that would be mine in Tokyo. Okay, sure, as a 6’2” white gal I can’t say I never got stared at, but in a city with a population of about 12 million (out of whom I knew, approximately, ten), I can safely say that I never ran into anyone I knew, and indeed often had trouble finding friends that I had actually arranged to meet! Thank goodness for cell phones and for the fact that just about all Tokyo Metro exits are numbered.

I knew that my stay in Tokyo wouldn’t be much longer than a year, which is probably why I enjoyed that anonymity and the freedom it brought me. I know that London will be home for another three or four years, which is probably why I have been more anxious to meet people and put down roots in this city. Of 7.5 million. A somewhat daunting task, to say the least.

So to bump into a woman that I knew on the Tube today, a fellow classmate from the intensive German class I took a few weeks ago; to be able to call her by name and have her come sit down and chat with me; to talk about the weather (grey, rainy, cold) and to share bits of news and scraps of gossip about ourselves and the people we both know; well, it just felt good. I almost felt like a Londoner.

And who knows? Maybe it will happen again.