To Queue or Not to Queue

I snapped this picture of Ally while we were making our way home from Buckingham Palace. I may or may not have been in the middle of the road (sorry, Mom!). But I quite like it. I think it captures the setup of London well...the streets have definitely taken some getting used to, for several reasons:

1) There is no particular side of the road in which to walk.
2) As a result of this, its typical to bump into someone. The correct way to respond to this is to say "Sorry!" over your shoulder and go on your merry way.
3) Jaywalking is not a thing. Or at least, the illegality of it is not a thing. And at an intersection, people cross diagonally.
4) And finally, everything is oriented left, not right.

Some other random differences:

British people tell it how it is.

One man I met said, "Why do you say things but mean something else? People in America say, "How are you?" all the time. Not friends or family. Like the people at the register when I'm buying my groceries. They don't really care how I am, they're just making conversation. Why ask if you don't really want to know? I also find it incredibly intrusive. Don't ask me about my day, just carry on with bagging groceries so I can go on my way."

Another strange difference: they use the word 'toilet' with no shame. 'Toilet' signs are everywhere in public places. One of my professors pointed out this difference. "We get confused when you say bathroom. It makes no sense. Are you taking a bath? No. There's no bathtub. You're using the toilet."

British people like to queue. There's single file lines everywhere. The same professor told u true Brits will queue for anything. "In fact," he said, "if you started to line up in front of the Arcadia center, we  would wonder what all the fuss was about and line up as well. People would form a line down the entire street. Then, you could leave the line, and us Brits will still be standing out there. Standing for hours in line for nothing!" Britishness in a nutshell.

But sometimes a queue is impossible. Sometimes it is just a mass of people in a complete standstill...

So this is rush hour London-style?

...which makes for a very long commute on the tube:

 This wasn't posed. I was out cold. 

Aside from the constant use of "toilet" (which are also, by the way, strange looking compared to ours) and the lack of personal space, it's been a great week. Yesterday, I stayed at the center after class to study and didn't leave Central London until 8. I made it all the way home by myself which felt like quite the accomplishment for this often timid and severely directionally-challenged girl!