Volume 4, Issue 74: The Happy Wanderer

"Take that high moral ground and sleep at the f--ing bus station if you want."

Hey, the book’s out. If you haven’t bought it yet, you should. If you have, you should write a (hopefully positive!) review of it on Goodreads or Amazon or both. I hope those of you who have a copy are enjoying it.

Ten instant, back-of-napkin, surely-not-particularly-useful observations from a Midwestern American upon spending his first 50 hours in London, England, for a visit with his parents and sister to go watch two baseball games, as one famously visits London to do.

1. There is no more base level of supposedly comedic observation than “this thing is new to me, so therefore it by definition is weird,” so I have tried to roll with the strangeness of the nomenclature conventions in this country I’m in. This does not change the eternal amusement of looking up and realizing that you are jogging down “Balls Pond Road.”

2. I am, famously, a bicyclist-skeptic. It’s not that I don’t like bikes, or that I do not believe the world would be a better place if everyone rode bicycles all the time. It’s that, well, everyone doesn’t ride bikes all the time, and thus those that do have taken on a certain peevish self-righteous imperialism, as if their mode of transportation somehow gives them some sort of moral superiority and subsequent right to act as if the world exists solely for them—to treat you as if you are in fact a jerk for not riding a bike. (In 13 years in New York City, I never had a car, say, drive the wrong way on a street, then head up on the sidewalk directly at me while scowling at me like this was somehow my fault that I was in their way. This happened to me on a daily basis with cyclists.) Anyway, London strikes me as a prime example of the cyclist utopia that cyclists in the States want to somehow will their way into existence. Bikes rule this town, and, I must say, it’s really quite lovely: This is a place where cars—which are of course much smaller and more efficient here than in the States—are expected to be recessive and reactive. Bikes are in charge—I don’t even see many people wearing helmets—and it does make the streets feel safer, calmer and more communal. I do not think the American character will ever allow this transition to happen in the States, as nice as that might be to imagine, but I at least understand now why one might be aspirational about it. It still doesn’t make you a better person than everybody else just because you ride a bike, though.

3. Speaking of the roads, my god, I could never drive here. I have American friends who live here who have adjusted to driving on the left side of the road, and I supposed if this were my home I’d eventually figure it out, but only after I had killed many, many people. I sat in the front seat of an Uber ride yesterday and it felt a little what it would be like to be strapped to the front of a TIE Fighter while the rebels are attacking the Death Star. Everything was just coming at me from all directions and angles, and I could do nothing to get out of their way or even guess where they might approach from next. I eventually just closed my eyes and crossed my fingers that when I opened them, I’d magically arrive where I was trying to go. Being in a car here makes me feel like I’m in the streets of Inception.

   

4. On Thursday night, out in East London (where we’re staying) we had dinner at a place called Barge East, which is a boat. You just sit in the hull of a boat and have dinner on the banks of the Lee Navigation, which is actually more of a canal. As a native Midwesterner, I am naturally suspicious of water and have spent much of my life avoiding both beaches and lakes, but I will confess, a canal that goes through a livable, vibrant community is extremely appealing. Some guy and his son were piloting a solar-powered vessel that they just parked next to our restaurant boat, popped out, grabbed an ice cream cone, hopped right back on and piloted back to their home. That’s living.

   

5. This is my parents’ first-ever trip to Europe, and I’ve been pretty proud of them for just rolling with everything. The well of things they didn’t see in their first 70-plus years of existence that have barraged them over the last two days is a bottomless one. They’re having a blast, and I’m elated for, and proud of, them. That said: It is unusually hot in London right now, and explaining that central air really isn’t a thing in England has been an infinite challenge. I find my mother constantly reaching for a thermostat, like a phantom limb.

6. You can tell I’m officially becoming the middle-aged white man I was destined to be because I’ve gotten really into World War II history in the last couple of years. This morning we went to the Churchill War Rooms, and I cannot possibly recommend it enough. Just something that we, as Americans, have not grappled with really enough. Let’s see someone start shelling suburban Dallas for a few months and see how much our mettle holds up. That museum will make your spine feel decidedly less steely.

7. My father had a terrific observation: “The people here all seem a lot less angry all the time than Americans do.” I think that’s right. It’s almost as if the primary industry here isn’t the creation and sustainment of ceaseless aggrievement.

8. On that note, it is difficult to shake the feeling, after a few days in London, that my home country is in a state of serious disrepair right now. England, obviously, has its fair share of problems, but you really get a sense of how much things have degraded in the United States over the last six years or so when you look at a country that (mostly, Brexit cough) hasn’t. Not everything here is owned by a soulless corporate conglomerate. Public workers are everywhere, fixing something, working on something else. I haven’t seen a single gun. Almost everything is a local business. There is a sense of communal spirit here that feels like it’s been missing from much of America—even cities I love, like New York, whose blocks have turned into never-ending rows of CVS, Chase Bank and shady weed stores since the pandemic—for quite a few years now. It’s strange, as an American, to find yourself thinking, “Whoa, there’s, like, a lot of things that are harder back home than they are here.” I told my parents that if they were to have a major medical event at any point, I’d like them to fit it in before we get on the plane.

9. It is also possible that I have only been here 50 hours and have no idea what I’m talking about. The time change still has me a bit punch-drunk.

10. No matter what: This is what travel can do. It expands your horizons, it challenges your assumptions, it makes you take a step back and reflect on yourself, and your life, and your choices, and the people and environment you surround yourself with. It is so easy to get stuck, to only see what’s in front of you, to be unable to realize, as David Foster Wallace famously said, that this is water. It is good for the soul to leave, and to come back, in your own way, a different person. I cannot believe it took me this long to get here. It will not take me that long to return.
    
    I’m not getting a bike though.

Here is a numerical breakdown of all the things I wrote this week, in order of what I believe to be their quality.

1. The Mets Are Going to Be Fine, Relax, New York. They’ve got an obscenely rich owner who wants to win. That’s a large percentage of what you need.

2. Do the Angels Need to Floor It Right Now? MLB.com. They and the Orioles are the American League teams I always root for.

3. Tom Hanks Movies, Ranked, Vulture. Updated with Asteroid City.

4. Scarlett Johansson Movies, Ranked, Vulture. Also updated with Asteroid City.

5. I Did the MLB Power Rankings Again This Week, MLB.com. These things are voted on by a bunch of people. They are not just mine!

PODCASTS

Grierson & Leitch, we discussed “The Flash,” “Elemental” and “Asteroid City.”

Seeing Red, Bernie and I previewed London and talked David Freese.

Waitin' Since Last Saturday, no show this week.

LONG STORY YOU SHOULD READ THIS MORNING … OF THE WEEK

“Morality Is to Trump What Colors Are to the Color Blind,” Peter Wehner, The Atlantic. I do wonder if in 30 years we’ll consider Wehner the great documentor of this era.

Also, The Atlantic has been very helpful to explain what’s going on in Russia this morning.

ONGOING LETTER-WRITING PROJECT!

This is your reminder that if you write me a letter and put it in the mail, I will respond to it with a letter of my own, and send that letter right to you! It really happens! Hundreds of satisfied customers!

Write me at:

Will Leitch
P.O. Box 48
Athens GA 30603

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO

“Loves Me Like a Rock,” Paul Simon. Paul Simon has a new album out, which has had me listening to that rhymin’ Simon in the background while working all week. Good writing music!

Remember to listen to The Official Will Leitch Newsletter Spotify Playlist, featuring every song ever mentioned in this section.

Also, now there is an Official The Time Has Come Spotify Playlist.

I’m now heading out to the ballpark. Go Cards.

Best,
Will