Since living in London, I’ve been lucky enough to have had many visitors. The fact that London just isn’t a common destination point but also an even more common hub for transcontinental flights has brought nearly a dozen visitors to me in the 11 months I’ve lived here. Some have been old roommates, old classmates, and old friends – from highschool, university, and even kindergarten. Some have been here for several weeks, several days, or several hours. But each visit has been very memorable and a lot of fun.
Superficially, it’s fun to hang out with friends, catch up on things, and it gives me an opportunity to play tourist in my new hometown. But on a deeper level, I’ve found that having visitors from various stages of my past acts as a barometre for where I stand in the present. I guess they sort of act as marker points and since they’re often quite fresh to the UK, it’s fun to see their observances. Things like:
“You have a TV license?!?!! Are you serious? That’s insane!” (I know – I was once outraged but have sadly come to accept that the BBC pillages everyone in a dictatorship kind of way. Fidel would love it)
“I love the chocolate here, it’s definitely so much better than in Canada. And it’s so cheap! You must eat it everyday, right?” (Nope).
“The plugs here…THEY’RE SO UNNECESSARILY LARGE! It’s like a kids toy or something. Why?!?” (Not sure, but I agree completely!).
I guess it all allows me to sort of see how far I’ve come, if you want to say it like that – and I don’t because it sounds a bit self-involved, but it’s late and my mental thesaurus isn’t functioning well. In many ways, all these and more were things that once were on the forefront of my mind – manifestations of culture shock, really. So for me to hear them now and almost giggle at these novices makes me realize, I’ve come a long way. But not long enough that I spell it “realise” 
So to all my visitors, thank you for bringing plenty of laughs, a familiar accent, and most of all, perspective. Oh yeah, and who could forget all those boxes of KD, issues of Maclean’s and bags of Fuzzy Peaches as well. Those have all gone down well.
