What was interesting (beside the rather amazing way foot blisters heal and re-form over the course of 4 full days of walking, is that none of these tours resulted in the same sites. I never really noticed it before, but looking back I realize that each time I have taken friends around London I tend to follow the same general walking/Tube path, but never have I had the same tour twice.

What makes this interesting to me is that I have just spent 4 solid days, on top of the countless times before this week, walking in basically the same 7 or 8 major areas of London and I still see new things. It really is a tour for myself, guided by the people who think I am guiding them.

I lived in Toronto for 4 months and never got this feeling, I lived in Guelph for 4 years and pretty much can claim to have seen it all. What is it about Europe that makes cities like Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam etc. places that you can go to over and over and never see the same site the same way twice? Is it the exotic-ness of simply being in Europe? I doubt it, that wore off a year or so back for me. Perhaps it is the copious amounts of alcohol I drink? Nah, been doing that for years too, especially in Guelph, you bastards (you know who you are)… In my opinion it is the lifestyle they lead.

See, in general,  Europeans drink more than North Americans, they smoke more, they eat more meals (albeit in smaller portions) and yet, in general, they are in better health and happier then we are. Why?

If you watch Sick-o by Mr. Michael Moore you will see a “documentary” that gives a lot of credit to the healthcare over here, especially in France. Mr. Moore basically makes Canadian Healthcare almost Utopian and then surpasses Utopia in Europe and specifically Scandanavia. We all know this isn’t really true, but he has some interesting points.

Europeans are more relaxed and depending on the survery 6-8 out of the top 10 “happiest” counties are European.

I recently went to the Doctors for a minor problem and instead of immediately feeling me up or doing unmentionable things below the belt the doctor asked me about me. How UNIQUE! Was I in a relationship? Were there any problems? Has my eating pattern or work habits changed? How was I sleeping? Any added stresses in my life? I strongly believe these questions are the reason why English medicine doesn’t work for me. It is weaker medicine and it can be because it isn’t their first line of defense. Their first attempt is figuring out why “all of sudden” something went wrong with your body. Likening this to a computer problem. The first line of defense isn’t to reformat, or to start deleting things or changing settings somewhere, it is to do a generic scan of your machine for problems using antivirus, or antispyware software. Our medicines have to be stronger, because we grew up taking them after each cough. We “change our settings” until something works better. I spent the better part of 5 years getting allergy shots and so many times as I sat there waiting to be received I saw people walk in and ask how long the wait was, and if it was more than 30 minutes they left. Clearly these are not sick people, they are people who aren’t 100% well who want a quick fix drug to get back to their busy lives.

Recently, a counterpart of mine felt faint one day at his office. His boss called him an ambulance and they gave him 2 weeks stress leave from work. No perscriptions. The Doctor (this happened to be in Switzerland) determined that this was nothing more than over work and exhaustion. He was a perfectly healthy man where something had changed, his hours at work were longer, he had some tight deadlines to meet and his blood pressure rose signifcantly because of this. They even gave him a free heart monitor and if it ever went off he was told immediately to stop what he was doing and go and get a coffee or a tea and sit for 15 minutes to let his heart rate even out! Would a North American Doctor ever perscribe that?

Regardless, I am no Doctor and I don’t know what is best for the human body and this rant isn’t about health care, BUT all I am saying is: Europeans don’t rush home from work at 5pm sharp. They finish up their job and move on to the pub for a chance to unwind. They don’t rush to the stores after dinner for some late night shopping because they are closed at 6pm. They eat on patios facing outwards towards the sidewalks, not in a fenced in area to appease alcohol restrictions.

They schedule and enact their lives around living, not around doing.

So, what does this have to do with my recent trips to London? It is simple: London is a city where anything can happen because the people want it that way. They spend so much time enjoying the sites around them, they want them to change. I walked through the same tunnel twice today about an hour apart. The first time there was a string quartet playing and the second time 2 opera singers, ever seen that in TO?

Bottom line here is relax a little. Smell a few roses…

That is why when I am taking a special interest in the articles about New Democratic Party MP Jim Maloway’s new private bill which has serious implications for all Canadian airlines (A summary can be found here).

Mr. Maloway’s bill seeks up to $500/hour/passenger of compensation for every hour delayed on the tarmac, bumped passengers on long haul flights would see $1200 in their pockets and “failure to announce delays” is a $1000 fine payable to the traveler. (I do note that the above is only if certain conditions aren’t met, but I will touch on that later)

But, before I start to discuss, let me be clear: For the most part Air travel is one of the most poorly structured and inefficient industries out there. I once took 3 flights in 3 days in China, each plane boarded on time, left on time or earlier and always landed within 5 minutes of the planned arrival. In the past 4 years, that is the 1st time all of those things have happened on more than 2 consecutive flights for me. What does this tell me? Well it tells me exactly the same thing as why in Germany I know exactly when a train arrives to the station, departs from that station and what platform I will arrive/depart from a month+ in advance, and in England, France, Canada and Brussels I do not: Some companies know how to be efficient and some do not. I do not advocate the Air travel business model of BAA in London, England, just as I wouldn’t pitch Canada’s Via rail as a good transportation solution.

But all that being said, can you really honestly tell me that every flier is worth $500/hr if there is a delay? That number seems to be picked out of thin air! What’s next? Making the Transit authorities pay you if there is a traffic jam?

Yes, air travel is rough sometimes, and yes it is expensive and yes it can be very annoying when you are stuck somewhere you don’t want to be. But this isn’t airline specific! Just as the clause in this bill that states an airline can be fined $10,000 if they don’t advertise their prices with service fees and taxes included. WHAT?! Canada and the USA don’t do that in any industry! And as stupid as that may be (especially since the vast majority of the world does do this and it makes soooo much sense) forcing one industry to add in taxes is asinine! If anything that will cause even more confusion, because customers would be expecting the tack-ons.

The people that agree with this legislation are the people that travel once a year or less and are annoyed that their plans are changed by someone else. If they were driving somewhere they’d call ahead and say “sorry, got stuck in traffic”, but when a hurricane is destroying New Orleans and that causes a two hour diversion to get to their margarita in Acapulco; Jesus Christ! Call in the lawyers.

Now Mr. Maloway says that it won’t cost airlines a penny if they meet the conditions. Well that is just bullshit. The airlines not only will need someone to monitor that this is occurring, but will also need to go to court countless times to defend that it has been done. What does “failure to announce a delay” even mean? What if I only speak Spanish or am blind and can’t understand/read the announcement? Is that failure? This all costs money and with an industry that is already so inefficient it is hemorrhaging cash from every orifice those costs ain’t going to be on their shoulders, they’d be on yours. So sure $500/hr sounds great, but when the flight costs $2000 to pay for all this shit, it may not seem as wonderful.

This is yet another case of the “Don’t incovienience me” syndrome that is spreading faster than Swine Flu (*ahem* H1N1) across North America. And for God’s sake don’t breast feed in public, or smoke anywhere within 10 miles of civilization or let homosexuals marry because somehow that inconvieniences me and we all know my rights are more important than yours.