Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Mad men and the midday sun
Ah, that’s better. It’s amazing how good I feel after belting out a few songs. The auditions went pretty well - although some of these drama companies don’t half take themselves seriously. At the one on Sunday, the audition form asked if I was a member of Equity (the actors’ union)! The next question should have been ‘If so, why are you trying out for an amateur production?’ I guess some professional actors are pretty desperate. Kind of like professional journalists who write for free. Moving on then…
Spring here lasted about five minutes and summer has arrived with a vengeance. It’s BOILING!!! And the temperature’s going to be 26 degrees or hotter for at least the next seven days. It’s not just the heat, either. It’s also the humidity, which clings to you like a cheap shower curtain and makes things like wearing makeup unbearable. You know when you’ve just eaten a really greasy hamburger and you can feel the fat around your mouth? Pretty gross, eh? That’s the same as wearing lipstick in a Canadian summer.
Needless to say I’m wearing fewer clothes at the moment, which in itself is unremarkable until you consider the number of weird guys that hang around downtown Hamilton. There are a lot. Some of them have problems with mental illness or learning disabilities or addictions (there are lots of halfway houses around here), and others are letches with no excuse. I get a ‘hello’, or ‘how are you’, or ‘you look nice’ about three or four times a day. I even caught a blind guy checking me out yesterday! I was so confused by this I looked directly at him and yes, he was definitely checking me out. He must have had a white cane because he was partially sighted or something.
It’s only when they try to start up a full-length conversation that I feel kind of awkward. But most of the time it’s all pretty friendly. Like when I was going for a walk between the singing and dance auditions yesterday, and some guy pulled up next to me on his bike and asked me out!! I guess people are just less inhibited here. Plus I’m a babe : )
But seriously. People are more friendly here. And because people are more friendly, I find myself being more friendly back. If somebody bumped into me in London, on the rare occasion they said sorry, I would just mumble “s’okay” in response. If somebody bumps into me here, they politely say “I’m sorry” (no mumbling) and I say back “That’s no problem” or something equally warm and forgiving. People here assume you’re a fantastic person worthy of respect unless they find out you’re a mugger or a thief. In London it’s the other way around.
People will also happily help you out if you need it, whereas in London a stranger wouldn’t pee on you if your heart was on fire (one Londoner I know told me about a woman she saw on the bus, who was crying her heart out and everyone was ignoring her. It turned out she’d just been raped). Today I was loading my groceries into the back of the car, and some guy offered to take back my trolley for me. I assumed he was doing it to make some sort of living (you get your 25 cents deposit back when you return the trolley), so I let him. Then he gave me the 25 cents!!!
An apology to Londoners, by the way. I have seen examples of Londoners being warm-hearted, generous people who help out strangers. It’s just that those examples are in the minority. I’ve been just as guilty of putting my own comfort ahead of helping other people, but I think being around Canadians is making me less reserved.
Anyway, as any person who’s ever been around English people will tell you, an English friend is a friend for life. And I do miss my English friends. Although I’m meeting people here, and I know that one day I’ll have as many laughs and stupid antics with them as I’ve had with my old friends, it sometimes seems a long way off. So to everyone I know in England (and to my dad & step mum in France)…I miss you. Have a hug from me : )
Spring here lasted about five minutes and summer has arrived with a vengeance. It’s BOILING!!! And the temperature’s going to be 26 degrees or hotter for at least the next seven days. It’s not just the heat, either. It’s also the humidity, which clings to you like a cheap shower curtain and makes things like wearing makeup unbearable. You know when you’ve just eaten a really greasy hamburger and you can feel the fat around your mouth? Pretty gross, eh? That’s the same as wearing lipstick in a Canadian summer.
Needless to say I’m wearing fewer clothes at the moment, which in itself is unremarkable until you consider the number of weird guys that hang around downtown Hamilton. There are a lot. Some of them have problems with mental illness or learning disabilities or addictions (there are lots of halfway houses around here), and others are letches with no excuse. I get a ‘hello’, or ‘how are you’, or ‘you look nice’ about three or four times a day. I even caught a blind guy checking me out yesterday! I was so confused by this I looked directly at him and yes, he was definitely checking me out. He must have had a white cane because he was partially sighted or something.
It’s only when they try to start up a full-length conversation that I feel kind of awkward. But most of the time it’s all pretty friendly. Like when I was going for a walk between the singing and dance auditions yesterday, and some guy pulled up next to me on his bike and asked me out!! I guess people are just less inhibited here. Plus I’m a babe : )
But seriously. People are more friendly here. And because people are more friendly, I find myself being more friendly back. If somebody bumped into me in London, on the rare occasion they said sorry, I would just mumble “s’okay” in response. If somebody bumps into me here, they politely say “I’m sorry” (no mumbling) and I say back “That’s no problem” or something equally warm and forgiving. People here assume you’re a fantastic person worthy of respect unless they find out you’re a mugger or a thief. In London it’s the other way around.
People will also happily help you out if you need it, whereas in London a stranger wouldn’t pee on you if your heart was on fire (one Londoner I know told me about a woman she saw on the bus, who was crying her heart out and everyone was ignoring her. It turned out she’d just been raped). Today I was loading my groceries into the back of the car, and some guy offered to take back my trolley for me. I assumed he was doing it to make some sort of living (you get your 25 cents deposit back when you return the trolley), so I let him. Then he gave me the 25 cents!!!
An apology to Londoners, by the way. I have seen examples of Londoners being warm-hearted, generous people who help out strangers. It’s just that those examples are in the minority. I’ve been just as guilty of putting my own comfort ahead of helping other people, but I think being around Canadians is making me less reserved.
Anyway, as any person who’s ever been around English people will tell you, an English friend is a friend for life. And I do miss my English friends. Although I’m meeting people here, and I know that one day I’ll have as many laughs and stupid antics with them as I’ve had with my old friends, it sometimes seems a long way off. So to everyone I know in England (and to my dad & step mum in France)…I miss you. Have a hug from me : )
