Things I Miss About America- Part VIII: Not Living in a Constant State of Paranoia

I think I have mentioned in this blog before that, even though I love it here, living in London has taught me that I am actually not a city person. Another illustration of this is how completely paranoid I become whenever something even remotely threatening happens due to the fact that I live in a large city.

Example 1: A month or so ago, I was on the tube platform at Oxford Circus (the huge, touristy, shopping area in London) waiting for the central line train when a voice came on over the intercom and said “due to an emergency, everyone must now evacuate the station.” In my head, this meant “a terrorist bombing of the station is imminent, run for your life.” I sprinted out of the station while the rest of the passengers exited at a leisurely stroll. I was shocked to see that people were standing still going up the escalators as I ran for my life. When I got to the station exit, I saw that all of the tube employees were lolling about, so I figured it must have been a drill, but if the same thing happened to me again tomorrow I’m sure I would react the same way. If I were living in Yorktown Virginia, I would never consider the possibility of looming death due to terrorist action when something slightly odd happened, but in London, anytime someone leaves a bag on the tube I’m convinced that it contains a bomb.

Example 2: Today, a lady sneezed on me on the tube and now I am convinced I have Swine Flu. Once again, if I were living in Yorktown Virginia, my fear of Swine Flu would be calmed due to the remoteness of my location. But I don’t live in Yorktown Virginia, I live in London, and, according to yesterday’s paper: “Swine Flu Has Arrived in London.” In a month or so, when this whole Swine Flu thing has blown over, I’m sure I’ll laugh at myself for going to the pharmacy to price surgical masks, but right now it seems like the prudent thing to do.

Maybe my paranoia will lessen with time. Maybe if I cut down the number of newspapers I read a day (currently at 4), this would help lessen my fears of death due to global pandemic. But, for how, I just have to endure it and be thankful that the positive aspects of living in London outweigh my fear of terrorist bombings.