Cold Britannia

It is not even Christmas but cars are being defrosted each morning.
Similarly (or not), London, formerly known Swinging and currently referenced in the Tubular propaganda as LondON, is displaying technical problems of the thermostatic persuasion. London is not Cool. It is just cold. LondOFF.
There is a serious question which foreigners like myself seldom voice – why?
It is not obvious that such a major world capital is so inhospitable. And it is not a matter of crime, or terror or economic recession or even a matter of bad weather. Sure it is cold, but then so is New York or Paris. Sure it is huge but so is Sao Paolo. Sure its on an island but so is Sydney. So, what is the problem?
I do not have any answer. And my assertions are based entirely on my own experience as well as the reports of other foreigners who have confessed to counting the days till they can leave. And I apologize to those who call this home. It is not my intension to insult anyone’s way of life, but merely to understand what makes a place tick and buzz with excitement and what makes a place spit out the hoards of student-professional-pilgrims who dream of nothing but London up till their arrival and of anything but London after it.
My feeling is that London is hostile because there is a general vibe in the air that Britons are under attack. And I don’t mean the recent bombing; Although the Blitz-like stoicism with which Londoner’s handled the public transportation bombings may have been regarded as dignified locally, it ultimately strengthened the image of a Cold rather than Cool Britannia. LondON seemed more on automatic pilot than a city buzzing with the solidarity of grief and the determination of life.
When looking for an apartment, one of the estate agents informed me in respect to a part of Hammersmith that ‘this is a very English area’. In other cities, little Italy or China town may indicate the clustering of a minority within a geographical zone; ‘a very English area’ suggest the English are clearly a minority in London. This is an Imploding Empire. And Britons are not willing to be rebranded to please the world. Jamie Oliver may be a stand-up cooking-bloke, but this is light years away from people having political arguments on the tube or people refraining from superfluous apologies.
Maybe the answer to coolness is not in the symmetry of ON or OFF but in the more chaotic SWING. Eitherway, I’m counting the days till I take off for three sunny-swinging weeks in Brazil.