Perspective is a marvellous thing

 

Subject: Perspective is a marvellous thing.

Lacking a proper education with its gift of reflective understanding one took life as it came, the arrival in a new country was just that, a new experience unconnected with any book learning about the place, its history, its geography, or it's political landscape. 

Of course being pre educated as to what to expect, prior to the experience, has the disadvantage of also being educated with the bias of the writer but landing on new soil as a virgin, one has the benefit of self education. The sights and sounds are not tainted but are rather a new music, a new song. played on new instruments and to a different rhythm than back home. 

Ones own instinctive bias would get in the way when conversing with the locals, arguments could spring up on the misunderstanding of rights for instance and not having been educated in the historical relevance of local tribalism, one could presume too much. At least the relevance of what had been archived or conversely where there was failure was tolerated by ones greatly improved opportunities offered both in living standards and emblazoned under a blue sky the open hospitality of the community.  

The "know your place lad" was supplemented by "this is your place" and the encouragement it gave to rid oneself of the English myopic, of seeing yourself as "working class" and making the best of a bad job was soon wiped away by the chirpy 'can do' attitude of Southern Hemisphere.  The ships that carried the £10 immigrant were amazing sociological Petri dishes, as the voyage progressed the sloth of class embattlement fell away, men and women saw themselves, probably for the first time as respected equals. The culture of subservience and a glass ceiling imposed by birth was removed with every nautical mile. 

That's not to say that nirvana awaited. The sun the heat, the pesky mosquito, the sleepless nights under a noisy ceiling fan were counter to the ubiquitous nature of life back home. The BBC World Service fed us the romance. Promenade Concerts and the parades down the Mall, the alluring sound of the Pomp and Circumstance march which whilst never ours but made us romantically nostalgic. The newsreels showing the great shopping streets in London full of famous brands which were always out of reach on our  wages but somehow became the nostalgia of home

 

For the moment, as we lent over the ships rail, the bright lights and the happy sound of music and laughter, came to us as the ship pushed us ever further through the seas and oceans last seen on our classroom atlas.  We were acutely aware we were free, probably for the first time, with a new future and only when we landed from the great ship which had become our secure home were we faced with bureaucracy but somehow a different kind of bureaucracy not the lofty sneering bureaucracy of Britannica's Customs and Exercise but a helpful "can I help you mate" which said, welcome to our country.