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Things that Surprised me during my visit to the UK in 2019



  1. Widespread tourism: Whether it was the Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland or Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, the River Thames, Westminster Abbey in London the Cotswold tin Tetbury or Royal Gardens at Highgrove for Price Charles,  I was just amazed at the large number of tourists and well organized tourist industry.
  2. Well organized transport system: I found the local and inter-town public transport well-organized whether it was the buses, trains or trams. The time keeping too was very good. On the bus from Glasgow to Birmingham, when we had a stop in Preston for a break, we were told to keep time and that if anyone was not on the bus at 02 35 sharp the bus would leave being reminded that it was a long way to walk to Birmingham!
  3. The courtesy and helpfulness of people working in public places. In some societies, public workers behave like you are bothering them when they are attending to you. I found the British quite helpful and courteous. During the Conference I attended and outside the conference I found the Scottish very helpful and welcoming. 
  4. Well kept public gardens and parks. I saw this especially in Edinburgh and London. One would think that London would be just a concrete jungle through and through but I was surprised to find nice gardens such as Hyde Park and St James Gardens near Buckingham Palace.
  5. Beautiful Countryside. I was wowed by the beautiful countryside as I made my way across various towns and cities such as from Birmingham to Camborne in Cornwall, Camborne to Tetbury, Tetbury to London. 
  6. Huge food business in Edinburgh and London: Edinburgh and especially London being very busy cities with people being on the go both locals and visitors means there is a huge demand for restaurant food. 
  7. Well organized public transport system. I used inter city buses when I travelled from Edinburgh to Birmingham and from Tetbury to London. These were very organised and time keeping was prioritized. I also used trains from Chatham to London and from London to St Neots. These too were fast and were always on time. 
  8. English Breakfast. Well coming from a former British colony, Zambia where some hotels and accommodation establishments serve English Breakfast or something close, I was pleasantly surprised to find that English breakfast was served properly in the hotel I stayed and was sold in a number of restaurants. My research tells me that English Breakfast started in the 1930s and was mainly for the rich at the time. 

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