The pace of research in London is very fast. It's a nice change of pace from Dublin which is the equivalent to swimming in a tar pit. The days at the archives are just flying by.
Tuesday I went to the National Archive, Kew. This place is everything an archive should be. The staff is really friendly and helpful, everything is automated, yet there still a significant degree of autonomy for the researcher. One doesn't feel like they're being a burden or sized up on a regular basis. Everything there is easy to use, or at least what I needed was. I was also able to use my digital camera, yet another boon. I'll be going back there on Friday as I put in a bulk order of documents.
Wednesday I spent at the British Library. They have SO much material there and I was able to view some of the books that I wasn't able to see at the National Library of Ireland. I'm glad I did because I found some really good stuff in those books. The system there isn't as fluid as the one at Kew, but, still, I didn't have too much trouble. The nice thing is that you can schedule what day you want documents delivered, so there are a few I ordered up for Saturday (and perhaps I'll order up a few more this evening). I didn't get out of the BL yesterday until about 7:45pm. Needless to say it was a long day, but it was also a productive one.
Today, I spent at the National Army Museum. When I initially contacted them via email they sent me a list of files that they held. Ok, cool. Once I got here they had their collection accessible via an online database (run on Macs no less!), which was nice. One of the staff told me it'd be available on the internet later this year. So I looked through their holdings and found some other stuff relevant to my research. London keeps coming up aces in terms of finding materials. So I spent the day looking through this material and taking notes. In fact, I was typing as fast as I could by the end of the day trying to get one last document typed out before they closed. I was the last one to leave, but I managed to get everything I needed, at least for the time being. All in all, it was a very successful trip to a very nice little archive.
The one thing that is clear to me is that I will have to come back to London, perhaps a couple of times, in order to get through all the stuff here. The one thing that I wasn't able to figure out for this trip was anything at the Royal British Legion Headquarters. So I'll have to see about that on a subsequent trip. (After my experience in Belfast, I really need to look into the Dublin Branch as well. They may have what I'm looking for and not even realize it.) But I will say that spending so much time at these various repositories has made my time in London go by quickly, which I appreciate, especially since I'm toward the end of the trip, pretty burned out, and not smitten by my accommodations. I have, however, been able to achieve the level of productivity I've strived for all along in London, which was not always the case in other places.
Although I may find the Tube's cash fares expensive, it's easy to see where the money goes. What a great system. The trains are on time and there are displays telling you how long until the next train arrives (like the DC Metro). The cars are clean, as are the stations, and while they may be labyrinthine, everything is clearly marked and it's easy to figure out where to go. The train cars are pretty quite for a subway. Usually, there are a few windows open in each car for ventilation, and even then it's possible to listen to music without having to decimate your eardrums or to have a conversation without having to yell. It's not quite like the Montreal Metro, which has rubber wheels and is really quiet, but when compared to the CTA subway there is a huge difference. It's nice to have an automated voice over the speaker that tells you what station you're approaching/at, and what is next. On the CTA the only time one seems to get this type of information is when the driver feels like telling the passengers. Sure they have certain announcements about keeping the CTA clean and the like, but nothing like the Tube. CTA buses have this feature, but it doesn't work on every bus. I haven't ridden the buses in London, but I certainly did in Ireland, and it's safe to say that based on my experience there and what I've seen of the buses in London, they're well maintained and clean, again, unlike the CTA. This just hammers home how absolutely terrible public transportation is in Chicago. People piss and moan about a $0.25 fare increase, but having seen other, better systems it's worth it for a higher fare. Besides, on the Tube a cash fare is £4, but if you have an Oyster Card (the same thing as the Chicago Card (Plus)) then it's only £1.50, and on top of that there is a daily cap so you won't be charged anything above the cap if you have the card (assuming I'm reading the literature correctly). But a difference between £1.50 and £4 is huge. Perhaps that's the sort of price structure we need in Chicago to really initiate change. The smart cards are so much more cost effective for the transit system there needs to be a much stronger incentive for people to use them. It's kind of like in Ireland how they charge you for plastic bags at the grocery store. Every one there has reusable shopping bags. After the initial adjustment period most people will probably just go with the flow, and be more content with their service.
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