The 47th Harry Brittain Fellowship
6 June to 14 July
Plymouth laughs off stress
By Otsieno Namwaya (Kenya)
I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive about going to Plymouth for my
media attachment. Most Harry Britain Fellows will quickly admit that they
would rather remain in London for their attachment, preferably with a
national newspaper, than be sent to the regional papers in the outer cities.
For me, this feeling started receding only when I realised that literally
everyone I met in the first four weeks of the fellowship had only positive
things to say about Plymouth - if it was not about its unmatched beauty, then
it was about its likeable people.
It always happens that the impression created by the first people
encountered often has a significant influence on a visitor's perception of a
people. In my case, it was inevitable that the taxi driver who was going to
take me from the train station to the hotel was going to play such a role.
And the otherwise self-deprecating taxi driver lived up to the billing. Soon
after the rituals of salutation, the man started talking, making jokes and
laughing at himself. I laughed too.
London Eye (Otsieno is 3rd from right) |
"So where have you come from?" he asked me. Then, laughing, he wondered why
I chose to come to this miserable city. "I can bet you will not like it. The
only good thing here is beer!" he mused. Then he became serious. Pointing
at a nearby restaurant, he offered to buy me beer if I could take his PAIN
away. By this time, he was laughing uncontrollably. "Shouldn't he be sad?" I
wondered as I enquired more about his pain.
"It is my wife, this mobile phone and the car! Most of us here feel the same
about these things," he responded seriously. He was to make fun of each of
the three things and laugh for the rest of the journey. "Sorry, you have to
learn to laugh at yourself if you are to live in Plymouth. Nobody cries
here," he said as he dropped me off at the hotel.
It sounded more like a tragi-comedy that added an entirely new dimension to
the understanding of the Plymouth as a beautiful city with happy residents.
Which is true, really, because there is no way one can fail to appreciate
the warmth of the people of Plymouth and the beauty of their city; the
people talk only of its colourful war history. The Sea Front and the Naval
Base are some of its most outstanding features. My initial apprehensions
were obviously unnecessary.
