A couple of weeks ago, one of the members of the Black Travellers community contacted me and suggested that it would be a good idea to meet up when he passed through London on his way to Manchester- final destination being Barcelona. As this is something I like to do in foreign places i.e. interact with the locals , I thought it was a great idea and gave him my number!
On the day he arrived, I received a call from him from the airport. He had lost his ATM card (what a way to start a holiday!!), was feeling depressed (understandably) and asked whether I could come collect him. This was an unexpected cost for me (petrol is not cheap) but I agreed. Later I took him to the Black Professionals RnB/Hip hop karaoke evening where he had a great time chatting up beautiful women. He was blown away by the whole thing because apparently in LA, there would never be such a large gathering (200+) of black people in one venue without some kind of violence and police showing up to break it up. (I'm not so keen on visiting LA now!) Afterwards I dropped him off at his youth hostel and as far as I was concerned, that was the end of my role in his London trip
He phoned a couple of days later to say that he had postponed his Manchester trip, was still in London and would I like to meet up? Well, as I mentioned in my last post, last weekends' schedule was quite busy, so we only met on my next available day, Tuesday when to my surprise, I discovered that he was staying with one of the friends I'd introduced him to the previous Wednesday. That was quick!!!
"What about Manchester?"
"Not sure whether I'm going there anymore. My friend who stays there is coming down to London this Thursday"
Wednesday lunch time, my friend phones me
"You know your friend D?"
"Yeah?!"
"Has he given any indication of when he is leaving?"
Apparently, the whole him staying at her place was not working out, on account of the fact, it's a small one-bedroomed flat, D wakes up at 1.00pm, has no interest in going out to tour London prefering to stay in all day listening to music on his laptop. My friend on the other hand, works at home and was becoming increasingly irritated with the situation. She was regretting her impulsive offer for him to stay for "a couple of days", as it was now 5 days and he didn't seem to have a plan to move on. Plus her lover was having issues with him in the flat. (Oh so there wasn't anything going on between her and D)
"I don't know why I always 'mother' people"
"I'm just like you. Fortunately I have a no-nonsense flatmate which makes it easier to say "No" and also helps strengthen my resolve"
"When you see him next, could you ask him what his plans are, and also kind of hint that I'm a control freak who likes her own space?"
"You're asking me to bitch on my homegirl?"
"Kim, I give you FULL permission to bitch away"
Hmm, that would place me in an unpleasant position. D would probably ask to stay at my place and as we'd parted the Tuesday evening on a such pleasant note, (and I'm such a people pleaser), I would find it difficult to say "No!" Not sure I could put up with his freeloading and neither could my flat mate. So I dealt with it in my usual fashion and did not to relay my friend's message
I get a text message from him that evening asking me to 'call him' which I ignored. Later on in a fit of remorse I sent him a text to say that I'd call him the next day. I 'forgot'
Friday I received another text from him
"Where you at?"
"At home chilling"
"Let's go eat"
Hmm! He's probably been chucked out of my friend's flat and is looking for a place to stay. He then tried to phone me twice, but I was talking on the other phone to my mom, so ignored it. Sent him a message saying
"I can't come out this evening because it is my chill out day. I'll see you at the 70's party"
I haven't heard from him since
On Saturday at the 70's party my friend told me that on the Wednesday, she reached breaking point when he locked them out of the flat by mistake and she had to call out a locksmith. She told him straight out that he'd have to leave. (I think this is when he sent me the text asking me to call him)
He finally moved out on Friday (which explains why he was so anxious to contact me that time)
"Anyway, he sent me a long email to apologise and also a bunch of flowers. So he was raised right."... she concluded..."but Kim, never again!"
Last September I hosted a couple of kids from Washington through the Hospitality Club. They too had done no research whatsoever when they came to London, had no plan and were decidedly unenthusiastic about my suggested places of interest. Lack of money is an issue because London is an expensive city, and probably comes as a shock to them, but there are LOADS of free things to do. The kids had no clue when their flights out of London were. I swear I was more concerned than they were and had to force them to find out (which was just as well, because they had early morning flights and no plan on how to get to the airport.) I hate generalising, but from the three young Americans I've met I have serious concerns. They appear to live in a dreamworld where they think things fall into place 'magically!" I expected Americans who travelled outside their country to have more initiative!"
Maybe it is just 'middle class' Americans who can't function in the real world?
Imagine these are future leaders of the one of the most influential countries in the world!?'
