Thursday 4 January 2008

DOUG R. (England)

Curiosity killed the cat?

Part 4

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Curiosity killed the cat? It nearly killed me.  UK visit                            

 What is the next step? Did we have a future? How would she react to living in my country?  Could she be happy living here? How would she react to my culture and way of life?

There was only one way to find out. She must visit me here at home. That wouldn’t be a problem would it?

The bureaucratic problems of arranging her visit to the UK were much worse than I expected. 

The paperwork involved with her UK visitor visa seemed even more obstructive than the Ukraine visa had been for me. The British Embassy in Kiev had an arranged obstacle course. Fence after fence was overcome before permission was given.

 Serendipity came from my Mystery Organiser. My company was holding a World Rally in London. Their support for her visitor visa application overcame the British Embassy.

 One evening she arrived at London Heathrow airport. Although tired by the journey and obviously excited, she wanted to see the lights of London immediately. Maybe to make sure she was not dreaming?

We drove from the airport into the West End of London. As often happens the night time lighting on historic buildings made drama out of their daytime mundane appearance. It looked very welcoming.

She had arrived, and made it very plain how happy she was.  All those weeks of organising, all those hurdles were overcome. We could now enjoy the results.

 Over the next few days we did the same sort of thing we had done in Warsaw, and with many photographs and visits. She wanted to know and experience everything possible including some that were impossible.

Her curiosity made me a tourist in my own country. I had to dig deep into my knowledge of forgotten history. I had never visited Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Tower of London, Stonehenge, Leeds Castle, Dover Castle or the variety in depth that make London and England so unique. She made me take a new look at my own country.

 A stream of questions on everything that didn’t move, demands to visit places she wanted to visit and explore kept my brain active.

I needn’t have worried about culture differences. She obviously enjoyed many things about our British way of life; pubs, general social structure, variety of cultures.

 I introduced her to my work colleagues. I wanted her to see my everyday behaviour and social structure.  She saw me ‘in action’ at work so to speak. If we were to meet life’s future problems together, our relationship’s foundation should be based on reality not some imagined unrealistic dream world.  There is an English expression ‘warts and all’ which seems to fit.

 The world rally of my company culminated in a grand dinner dance at a famous London hotel. This was glamorous and organised with the usual American razzmatazz. 

She already knew some people from the company branch in Ukraine who attended. I arranged to take a small group of them around the London tourist sights over the next few days.

 This would give an opportunity for her to listen to their outsider’s advice. I was still worried that those friends from her own culture might not approve of me or what she was planning. Maybe they would see something I had missed?

But it seems they were more than happy with what she was planning to do.

 When she started to make comments on my driving, pointing out speed limit signs and other matters I normally ignored, I knew she was relaxing!

 It seemed we should consider taking the next step. This would be together.

End of part 4

DOUG R. (England)

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