BES Assignment Seven - Villages of London

My village of choice was Hampstead, and wow was it a little odd for me. I can’t really believe that I was still in London. It was so quiet! No sirens, not a ton of traffic, and no construction. It was like stepping into the twilight zone. Once I turned off the main road, it was dead quiet, and funny enough, I was headed to a graveyard. The graveyard was beautiful if you ask me. It was not well kept; many headstones covered in moss, the bushes overgrown, the ground littered with leaves and branches, and some headstones lay in the same position they landed when they toppled over many years before. It really showed its age, and that was the magnificent part about it. It is hard to explain the feel it gave me without letting one experience it for himself/herself. I would not mind spending an hour just sitting on a bench and soaking in the whole place.

Walking up Holly Walk, I had this eerie feeling come over me. The place just seems so old and out of place with London. That with the combination of the quiet skinny street with no one but me walking it gave me chills. I was thinking that this place should not be here; it should be out in the countryside somewhere. When I got back to the main roads, the feeling drifted away as I found other life besides me.

On High Street, I started to pay attention to the people around me and the shops. The people were from middle age on up mostly. I was one of the few younger individuals walking the street. The majority were in their sixties and seventies (guessing of course). Much of the diversity disappeared as well. In Central London, there is a huge mix of people, but in Hampstead, it was mainly white people with a few other ethnicities scattered here and there. The people were all dressed nicely, and many of the old men had an old English village style to their dress. The pace of the street was much slower to Central London. I am used to walking quickly, but Hampstead was rather sleepy; no one was in much of a hurry. I had to slow down a bit so I did not stick out as much. The High Street was filled with many shops and cafes.

The shops were mainly niche clothing stores, which all looked too pricey for my taste. The cafes were littered down the street, and many people were enjoying the nice day outside with some coffee. I did notice there were not any chain grocery stores on the street; no Tesco, no Sainsburys, or no Waitrose. They did have a butcher shop and a bakery. Now that I think about it, it only seems right to have the traditional shops in a village like Hampstead. Anything else would seem odd. Hampstead is a nice place, but it did give me that weird eerie feeling. I don’t think I would choose to live there.