Great Minds Think Alike: Toronto to London (Part Two)

A close call.

The five-hour bus ride from London Gatwick airport to the Birmingham express terminal was extremely reassuring. Looking out the window and observing mere mortals simply walking across the street left me awestruck. This is no longer Canada, I thought. This is the U Fu*king K. Knowing that made all the difference.

I fell asleep almost immediately on the bus. My cousin sat in the seat in front of me and was passed out in no time. Once we reached my aunt’s place, it was lights out for us until the following morning.

*    *    * 

As I went to cross the street, I was a heartbeat away from a car sending me flying all the way to the next intersection. It was pure instinct that I looked the opposite way before crossing. You would think the Brits are foolish to believe that they drive on the “right” side of the road. But they have no problem telling you otherwise.

The truth is, when walking along a jam-packed city center like downtown Birmingham, you don’t always comprehend the fact that you are in a different city halfway across the world. The sights of people wearing world-renowned name-brand clothing while being hypnotized by their cellphones and the sounds of street musicians entertaining people with their god-given talents, made it seem no different than any other metropolitan setting. That is until someone started to talk.

*    *    * 

As we walked into an Italian restaurant to grab some lunch, the waiter told us the wait time was going to be approximately 15-20 minutes. The restaurant had a designated waiting area, so my cousin and I decided to grab a seat.

A young woman, who seemed to be highlighting phrases from a document she was reading, sat next to me. She was blonde, with blue eyes, maybe in her late twenties.

“Are you waiting for a table as well?” I asked her. She nodded her head as she kept reading.

“Are you from Birmingham by any chance?” I asked her. She nodded again but wouldn’t lift her head to look at me.

“I’m going to take a guess and say your background is Irish.”

Her head sprung up like a jack in the box.

“Irish? Do I really look like I’m Irish?” She sounded bewildered and genuinely concerned.

“I mean being Irish isn’t bad at all. I hear they can be stubborn but that can work in their favor sometimes, right?” I spoke. She began to laugh.

She told me she had been living in Birmingham for 7 years. Now, there was no way I wasn’t going to ask her this next question. My look was focused, and my tone was expressionless as I said,

“May I ask you a serious question? How come you guys drive on the wrong side of the road.”

After a brief pause, she smiled and said, “I’m from Spain. We drive on the right side of the road. I don’t know why these people drive on the wrong side of the road. They’re crazy.”

Yes! Finally, a sane human being.

She then asked me where I was from. Since people automatically assumed I was from the U.S. based on my accent, I went along with it. I told her I was from Bronx, New York.

As soon as I said that, however, I recalled that the hoodie I was wearing had the words “Toronto vs Everybody” written on it. She didn’t seem to catch on though.

Eventually, the waiter came to let us know that our table was ready. I stood up and shook the woman’s hand.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name,” I said.

“My name is Tyra.”

“Nice to meet you Tyra, I’m Nick.”

We exchanged phone numbers.

“Maybe I’ll come to visit New York one day.” She said, still thinking that is where I was from.

As my cousin and I ate our food and left the restaurant, I thought of texting her to let her know I was from Toronto and joke about how it was even written on my hoodie. It dawned on me that, since I was in a different country, I had no working sim card. Which meant I’d have to wait another 10 days to send her that text. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be on her way to New York anytime soon.