London 1984: Big Brother in the Boroughs

In class on Thursday, it was revealed to me in a group discussion that there are many more security cameras in London than I was aware. I was interested when I saw a number of cameras in central London. I saw them on the streets and in the tube stations; however, I did not understand their presence in the less central boroughs of London. There are cameras everywhere here! They are all down the streets, especially near crosswalks or traffic stops. There are even cameras that monitor the small neighborhood corner stores that are a ten minute walk from campus. Oftentimes, if you see a pole in the States, you would assume that it has a traffic light or street lamp at the top. In London, expect to see a closed circuit camera on top as well. Sometimes there are poles specifically for the cameras, some of which can follow motion and noise. I heard from a classmate that London has the most video surveillance in all of Europe. I don't know if that is true, but I would imagine it is pretty close. Here is an estimate in an online Times article discussing the reign of CCTV in London: 

Liberty, a civil liberties group, conservatively estimates there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras currently in operation in the UK, one for every 14 residents. Anyone living or working in London will likely be captured on camera 300 times a day, the group claims.

There is a new breed of CCTV cameras that are being adopted for London. Big Brother is now really watching, and interacting, with Londoners. The new CCTV cameras have the ability to use audio to broadcast warnings or laws. Some broadcast pre-recorded government warnings, such as "CCTV is in operation in this area and antisocial behavior will be reported to the police." What can 'antisocial' behavior be defined as? Not letting your in-laws join you for tea? Probably not. But what could it be defined as in the future? The audio might not be so terrible for surveillance in open areas; hearing a dull announcement every so often would only be a nasty addition to the noise pollution already in existence. But what if the camera was talking to you? Yeah, you! In the read sweater! Some of the audio cameras have been employed by establishments in order for security to talk to citizens without even leaving the CCTV viewing office:

CCTV operators, keeping a vigilant eye on a bank of 39 monitors in their windowless office, can ad lib broadcasts, asking people, for instance, to pick up the litter they've just dropped, or warning them that their behavior's unacceptable.

As anti-surveillance as the American tradition is, I have to say that I have never felt safer living in a city, or even at my college. Greensboro's population is a far cry from that of London's, yet sometimes I feel extremely nervous walking alone at night, even in the areas with heavy police patrol. When people can be robbed less than a block away from a police station in Greensboro, I think it's nice to know that someone, even Big Brother, is watching me here. Although I understand the danger of feeling comfortable under surveillance, I think that's probably how a lot of people feel here. There is a lot less crime here. When I say a lot less, I really do mean it. Sometimes a story of a mugging will make it to the evening newspaper instead of the usual crime headlines we have to look forward to in the States. Without the presence of guns, the most arms that the average street thug can get is a knife. So what? I have one too. I carry my little Swiss army knife in my purse at all times. If I ever run into a situation where I feel scared or threatened, I can simply walk with it in my fist. It feels better to know that I am probably more easily matched with a common thug here than if I was walking around in New York City. Thug+Gun against Girl+Swiss army knife= mugging, sodomy, rape, abduction, murder etc. In London, the equation is much more easily matched. At least here, if I do fall victim to some terrible crime, maybe my Big Brother can help to bring the perpetrators to justice.

If you would like to read the article that I read, here is the TIMES link: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1711972,00.html

Please leave comments if you would like, I am interested to know what you might think of this since it is very different from our own system.

Richmond Park

              

First glimpse of sunlight in a while.

 We went to Richmond Park accompanied by some other international students we've made friends with. Maja (from Norway), Sarah and Kiley (who I think are both from California) walked with us through the park for an afternoon. It was the first sunny day in a long time and people seemed to be in a better mood. It's amazing what a little sunshine can do!

This is one of the entrances to the park.

In Richmond Park, there are lots of grassy fields, herds of deer, football fields, equestrians, rivers, birds, and gorgeous scenery. There are a few roads that run through it and drivers have to be careful of animals and people that are trying to take pictures. Apparently it's a hot spot for kite flying- even traction flying.

The park was made in the 1600s as a game reserve for a local Lord. Not a lot has changed here since then, besides some roads and paths; however, I imagine the scenery surrounding the park has changed a lot over the last 400 years. I can't imagine that the man who chartered this place could understand its worth in modern London. Its very important that people have access to nature and wide expanses of natural space- something which is a rarity here.

The herds of game have continued to live there and multiply. They do have a hunting season, but I'd imagine that these deer aren't very hard to hunt. We could basically get within fifteen feet of anything very easily. 

                                  

                                        

                                    

                                                

                                     

            

This dog did not choose the right playmate.

                  

                      

My handsome man in the sunset :)

                                      

Pole.

I walked into a pole yesterday because I was so enthralled by the scenery. Yep.

Hayward Gallery

Hello everyone! We went into central London yesterday to see a project at the Hayward Gallery for our postmodernism class. The piece was "Can I Help You?" by Erik van Lieshout who is a Dutch artist. It was pretty interesting and also a little funny at points. I really enjoy walking along the Thames. I think that the South Bank area is very beautiful. The eye is not in service right now. I hope they get that all fixed soon because I want to ride it! Anyway, here are some pictures finally. 

This is my Hall. I live on the 3rd floor which is actually the 4th floor- but they don't count the first floor here. That's the 'ground' floor. 

There's a big huge lawn but you can't walk on it.
It's basically flooded and soggy all the time anyway. 

Outside of Wesley. This is the cafe/used to be the bar. :(

The Hayward Gallery

The Thames (oh and it's said Tims)

This is the station that we connect to from Barnes usually. It's an overground but it connects to the tube. Too expensive to try to connect though, if you want underground you just go to Putney.

Classes

I finally finished registering for classes- Roehampton really gave me the run-around for the whole process. Extremely inefficient organization. Either way I am enrolled in three classes which only meet once a week. My "Non-Fiction Writing for Journalism" class is on Mondays and my two drama classes, "Modernism, Performance and the Avant-Garde" and "Post-modernism and Performance" are on Thursdays. The classes are more or less lecture based with a lot of seminar as well. The grading process is very different here. Most of my class' grades will be based entirely on one or two assignments and the final exam. I'm really excited about the classes here. It feels much more intellectually stimulating than most classes I've taken before. Education has very different values here and I think I can learn to appreciate that. Oh, also the grading system is set with an %80 being a high A. I think I can muster a 'pass'. Since that's all that I will need to receive credit at Greensboro College.

Sloe Gin

Never heard of this before, but it's made with sloe berries or blackthorn berries. They remind me of blackberries but have a bit of a juniper taste as well.

And Sloe berries

Hello All!

I'm finally getting around to starting my blog today. I've been really busy since we flew in to Heathrow this Thursday. I didn't have a phone or internet for the first few days. I also didn't have an alarm or watch so waking up was incredibly difficult. I missed registration and have to go in on Monday to work everything out.

Today we went into central London for a photo scavenger hunt. I saw the London Eye, which was broken, and walked down the Thames to see Parliament and Big Ben. We also saw Westminister Abbey, Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus. Some of the tube system was under construction so it was a little more difficult navigating the London Underground.

I haven't been able to find real coffee anywhere. Even shops that claim to be coffee shops ONLY have an espresso machine. I guess that's all they drink here. I keep asking for black or plain filtered coffe and they continue to give me an americano. It is definitely not the same. So today I found a Starbucks for some good ole American coffee.

We ended our walk about at the International Student's House which has a bar just for internationals. You can also board there and they have discounted tickets for attractions and trips. It was a really exhausting afternoon.

No pictures this time. I wanted to keep myself from getting stuck behind the camera the first time I went into London. Now that I've gotten a chance to take it all in, I'd really like to capture some of the beautiful architecture around here.

So thanks for reading and follow the blog for updates!
Cheers!