tcm
...
I was driving through New Cross yesterday on the A2 into London, and i saw a chair in the middle of the road. A wooden dining room chair, standing upright, as if placed exactly in the middle of the road, facing the London-bound traffic. I though briefly about removing it, or somehow moving it out of the way , but the road is wide, and far too busy to stop. There's no central reservation at that point, so the chair sat astride the white lines, as if the empty seating position of some lunatic suicidal protestor.
As I got closer, a coloured guy was hovering on the side of the road, wanting to cross to the middle, as if about to retrieve the chair. Perhaps he'd had a bit of an accident carting chairs about the place, or it's fallen from his roof rack, I thought. I slowed for him, and he walked to the middle of the road. But he didn't pick up the chair. He looked at it quizically, and looked around. It obviously wasn't his chair. He left it alone, crossed to other side, and looked back to the chair, and carried on walking.
Initially, i was somewhat annoyed at the fact that he didn't move the chair away from the middle of the road. It wouldn't have taken a moment. Of course, he might have had a bad back, or simpy be incredibly lazy, but i don't think so. But then I thought about it.
If I saw a chair in the middle of the road anywhere in the UK, I'd move it. I've never seen a chair placed in a road before like that in the UK, but nevertheless I'd know it shouldn't be there, and move it to the pavement.
But ...if I was visiting another country, and especially another continent, I wouldn't instinctively *know* that chairs shouldn't be in the middle of the road for at least a year, or maybe several years - or (since this is the first chair i have seen like that in over 40 years) it might take at least twenty years or perhaps never? I wouldn't move the chair. Certainly, if I saw a chair in the middle of the road I might think it was a bit mad, tell my mates and so on - but I wouldn't know for sure if the chair should be there or not. I'd leave it alone, just as that coloured chap did.
I wonder if "belonging" or assimilation into another culture, another part of the country or another continent can be ecapulated by this simple event? It's not changing your colour, or being utterly fluent in the accent or the language, nor supporting the "home team". It's being part of the furniture, in more sense than one. You feel at home when you know if chairs should (or shouldn't) be placed in the middle of the road.
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As I got closer, a coloured guy was hovering on the side of the road, wanting to cross to the middle, as if about to retrieve the chair. Perhaps he'd had a bit of an accident carting chairs about the place, or it's fallen from his roof rack, I thought. I slowed for him, and he walked to the middle of the road. But he didn't pick up the chair. He looked at it quizically, and looked around. It obviously wasn't his chair. He left it alone, crossed to other side, and looked back to the chair, and carried on walking.
Initially, i was somewhat annoyed at the fact that he didn't move the chair away from the middle of the road. It wouldn't have taken a moment. Of course, he might have had a bad back, or simpy be incredibly lazy, but i don't think so. But then I thought about it.
If I saw a chair in the middle of the road anywhere in the UK, I'd move it. I've never seen a chair placed in a road before like that in the UK, but nevertheless I'd know it shouldn't be there, and move it to the pavement.
But ...if I was visiting another country, and especially another continent, I wouldn't instinctively *know* that chairs shouldn't be in the middle of the road for at least a year, or maybe several years - or (since this is the first chair i have seen like that in over 40 years) it might take at least twenty years or perhaps never? I wouldn't move the chair. Certainly, if I saw a chair in the middle of the road I might think it was a bit mad, tell my mates and so on - but I wouldn't know for sure if the chair should be there or not. I'd leave it alone, just as that coloured chap did.
I wonder if "belonging" or assimilation into another culture, another part of the country or another continent can be ecapulated by this simple event? It's not changing your colour, or being utterly fluent in the accent or the language, nor supporting the "home team". It's being part of the furniture, in more sense than one. You feel at home when you know if chairs should (or shouldn't) be placed in the middle of the road.
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