Day 8, 23rd November, London

We had an early start, taking the Tube all the way to Brixton. The presentation prior to leaving had prepared me for a ghetto where we needed to be extra careful. In the daylight, this proved to be untrue. Though Brixton's somewhat tumultous history was filled with racial riots and tensions between the multi-national residents and the police force, it seemed rather serene in reality. There were plenty of beautifully designed houses and stores in the vicinity. We also discovered a skate park known somewhat affectionately by locals as "Brixton Beach", a supervision-free space, where people could skateboard, ride a mountain bike and paint graffiti, so long as it was done within the designated space. Despite being a limited area, the idea of giving residents free reign to do as they please is extremely fresh. This is ever more applicable to students like me who, honestly speaking, live in a well-regulated environment, confined by a culture of fear.

Apart from the houses, another key part of the town was the Brixton Academy, a famed rock concert venue. Our Blue Badge tour guide, Janet, said that David Bowie (who was actually born in Brixton before moving away at age 6), the Rolling Stones and other such famous rock bands had named it one of their favourite performance venues. The Academy was an unexpected feature as Brixton is relatively out of the way. To me, that just goes to show how strong the culture of Arts here is. Despite Brixton being far away from Central London, there is still a performance venue. I think this is where Singapore can take lessons from Britain as the government is working to expand our Arts sector. They should build art venues close to the residential areas that so that Art can be accessible.

After the tour, we headed to Brixton market to find street food and other small shops. While waiting for Jeff the Chef, to set up the recommended Jamaican jerk chicken stall, we set off in our groups to explore. My group headed to Brixton Village. The effects of gentrification can be seen there, as a dichotomy between the types of shops there gave us a stark contrast. Firstly, there are swanky cafes that sell crepes and boutiques where a porcelain cups go for 48 pounds apiece. Then, there are produce and sundry shops that cater to lower families of various ethnic backgrounds. These shops that have two different sets of clientele are crammed into one space.

As Mrs Wee pointed out, this raised the question of how the latter groups can afford rental, if the up market shops are moving in and pushing prices upwards. How long can they sustain themselves? This put the issues of gentrification into perspective, as we could experience first-hand the divide. Mrs Wee also pointed out a shop, Foxton, which apparently had become synonymous with gentrification today. When a Foxton store opens, property prices in the vicinity skyrocket. I feel that this is applicable to Singapore as well, where the widening income gap is being increasingly brought up as a key concern. Places like Tiong Bahru have been gentrified as well. The swanky new shops in that area made rental unaffordable to those who run traditional businesses that sell snacks. It made me think about the price of progress, whether we can only climb up at the expense of others. Admittedly, I still cannot formulate a satisfactory answer, but I suppose reflection is the first step. We then proceeded to enjoy the jerk chicken, courtesy of Mr Chee Kam, and the hawkers were kind enough to give us a portion of fried corn bread fritters, called "Festival". It is said that the name comes from the joy of eating the dish, a similar feeling to being at a festival.

Apart from being a day of exposure, today was also a day of eating. After sharing the jerk chicken and festival, we headed to Borough Market for lunch. Before we boarded the Tube, our tour manager Angela kept telling us "Green Park, gray line, London Bridge", until we were repeating to ourselves like a mantra. We were taking the Jubilee Line, which was new to us, so it was reassuring that I had memorised both the stops and the line.

 I gained a greater appreciation for Singapore's environment and what it has to offer when Angela told us on the Tube that every weekend, a line of the Tube is closed for maintenance, and on Christmas day, there is absolutely no public transport. In Singapore there are plenty of complaints when there are delays, or if rush hour squeezes us too much. Through being here, I've learnt to be more appreciative, and discovered the true meaning of rush hour!

At Borough Market we once again split up, accompanied by our teachers. All of us were extra watchful, as it was extremely crowded. I was in the group with Mr Chee Kam, and together we sampled and shared dishes. These included paella, pork belly and beef sandwiches from the famed Roast, and an array of desserts. At the end of our little exploration, all of us were thoroughly satiated, some barely able to walk, including me! I was amazed at both the variety and the size of the serving. I was thankful that I could split the food amongst my fellow group members.

From there, we proceeded to Westminster Abbey for Evensong, a full church service that is mostly sung by their esteemed choir. The entire affair was extremely solemn. They seemed to stand on ceremony more than we do in Singapore, from my limited experience. There were a set of steps that we had to follow throughout the service. The choir indeed sang beautifully. However, it was difficult to follow the words as I was not very used to the choral singing. I often missed the cue to stand or sit. All the same, it was still an unforgettable and new experience.

We were scheduled for an early dinner, but had a little extra time before that. That enabled us to have some extra shopping time at Covent Garden. We split up into smaller groups in order to navigate through the large crowds. My group went to Jubilee Market, near our meeting point, as things there were supposedly cheaper. After spending some time hovering around stalls and making purchases, we assembled to head to Browns for our dinner. Dinner was pretty grand, and all the food was extremely rich, further filling our stomachs to the brim.

Later, we met with some of our SAJC alumni here in London, and they were able to share their experiences here with us. We interacted a lot with them to find out about college life here and how they adjusted. Honestly, I expected it to be pretty boring, like a seminar-type session. On the contrary, because we were split into small groups, I was able to learn a great deal from them and hear about their experiences and sharing our own.

Written by Andrea Tan, 13A02