British media: visiting the city of London

2013165438+1October 28th, the article Wandering in the City of London was published by wWw. Liuxue86.cOm )。

This sign is not only a landmark, but also means that petticoat alley market has become a century-old attraction in London and is open to tourists free of charge.

Every Sunday, a bustling crowd shuttles through the main street of middlesex Street in London. I just heard that this is an ancient market. Although the student apartment I lived in is on the street, I have never really heard its story. When I walked into it and was in it, I realized its enduring popularity and charm and was deeply moved by it.

From where? Pig lane? Arrive? Petticoat lane?

I know the name of this lively Sunday market. It is a 2-meter-high direction sign found on June 8, 65438 where I go to school every day. What does it say? Skirt alley market? (petticoat Hutong Market).

Out of long-standing curiosity, I decided to go into the market and visit the story of this alley that has gone through hundreds of years. ? Market research? From the first paving at the intersection.

The vendor's name is John, and he sells leather wallets at 8 pounds each, which is marked on the price? Half price sale? . John said that if there were the same wallet in the shop, the price would exceed ten pounds.

Don't look at the small commodities available on the market? Cheap? To describe, but for customers and tourists who love Taobao, can they meet? Cheap and good quality? I'm sure you can add a lot of color to the weekend's harvest.

John, who is cheerful, said that there are about 1200 stalls in the market, and his first stall, people who just entered the market, usually just pick up things and touch them, and won't buy them right away, because people will think there is something better ahead, and they will buy more guests who will return after visiting the market.

He told me that this alley is called petticoat alley because of a joke that has been circulating all the time: when this street was full of second-hand clothing stores, someone would steal someone else's petticoat at this end of the street, and then one day that person would find that the petticoat he bought home was his original. ...

Later, I read some relevant historical materials and found that this alley had a special name 600 years ago. Pig lane? (? Pigsty? )。 The reason is that Tudor Street in the15th century was surrounded by bushes and elms, and the baker kept pigs in the alley, so there was it? Pigsty? Statement.

By the end of 16, walls had been built beside the houses, and the streets no longer looked rural. 1608, this alley began to become a commercial area, where people run second-hand markets and second-hand clothing stores, and their names have changed? Petticoat lane? That's what John, the stall owner, said. Maybe it was bought back? A petticoat? That's where I was stolen.

At that time, representatives of Spain lived in alleys, which attracted many Spaniards to settle down. During the reign of British monarch James I (1603-1625); And 1665? Great plague in London? More than 654.38+ten thousand people died after infection, and one fifth of the population in London was lost. It was not until the late17th century that Huguenots, French Protestants who fled persecution, settled in this area and began to organize workers to dress and print.

/kloc-was widened by residents and textile workers in the middle of the 0/8th century? Petticoat lane? It became the center of British clothing production and was marked as? Middlesex Street? . 1936 was officially named? Skirt alley market? , to 20131010.8, set up scenic spots signs on the street.

Every Sunday now? Petticoat lane? Our fair is still active, buying and selling all kinds of small commodities, household goods and leather clothes. More than two and a half centuries of market activities have made it one of the oldest fairs in Britain, just like a fair with a long history? The present continuous tense? .

? Petticoat lane? The first stall owner smiled and said that in this alley, someone would find that the petticoat they bought was the one that was stolen before.

Businessmen in the ordinary true temperament market set up stalls on Sundays, and most of them are busy with other shops or jobs on weekdays. I asked them which one earns more on weekdays and Sundays. Most stall owners replied that there is not much difference in the long run, but they still tend to come here, because compared with single-family shops, the flow of people here is larger, more open and more interesting.

Although there are many commodities in the market, not all the people walking on this street are tourists and passers-by? Jumping prices? Shoppers are mostly low-and middle-income people, but there are also some? Blue collar? ,? Gold collar? Go to the fixed vendor to search for goods.

A middle-aged fashion lady who buys a bag of jewelry at a time, seeing that I am from China, told me that she was invited by Soho Company in China to go to China to talk about a cooperation project next month. As a sales manager in the IT industry, her monthly salary is more than 4,000 pounds, but she will still come to this market where she has often come since she was a child to buy things. At that moment, you could see that she was interested in this? Childhood paradise? Attachment.

There is also a toy vendor, probably middle-aged and elderly, who is also a native of London. He is stationed at 1978. Petticoat lane? Since then, he has never changed his job, because he liked stuffed bear toys when he was a child, so he made a living by selling stuffed bear toys, which he said was his favorite occupation.

As the crowd walked, it was close at hand. A young black man selling CDs saw a large group of people coming, so he sang and twisted a Latin song in his booth with a floor-standing stereo to attract the attention of the crowd. Listen carefully. What is he shouting? Hips don't lie? The rock version ... passers-by were amused.

A middle-aged blond man walking in front of me improvised a coin and made a gesture to throw it at him. When he really wanted to collect it, the man's hand stayed in the air, his body remained motionless, and he performed something like a street? Performance art? So his hand ready to pick up the money also cooperated with the stalemate, which lasted for dozens of seconds and attracted a burst of laughter.

Laughing and laughing, if you think that happiness and achievement can only appear in luxury shopping malls and famous brands, I'm sorry to say that this is really the biggest misunderstanding in life. Cheerful people walk in ordinary streets and cheap markets, full of happiness and joy. No matter the gap between the rich and the poor, no matter where it comes from, no one can deny that this is also a rich life. ...

The father of the old man in the picture rented this booth a hundred years ago, which has been handed down for three generations and has become a building complex.

Cultural inheritance and? Market economy?

If you want to look for historical footprints, then it is particularly worth mentioning a booth that has been passed down for three generations. Young Cowen Ping has his own real estate industry every day, but every Sunday, just? Inherit your father's business? Help my father manage the booth.

Cowen said that his grandfather rented this booth in his teens and was engaged in the clothing business. Now he provides printed matter to tourists? I love London? T-shirts as souvenirs; The booth rented a hundred years ago, in the same place a hundred years later, their father and son run not only a family business, but also a synthesis handed down from generation to generation.

Surprisingly, no? Urban management? The 1200 stalls in the market crisscross the streets and lanes in an orderly manner. Later, I learned that the number of stalls in the British market is determined according to the demand. After collecting the stalls, the stall owners must clean up their stalls, and they must also apply for health and safety licenses and insurance, and review them according to the number of years. Strict management system and law-abiding vendors? Rules? A market that has been maintained for hundreds of years 2? Fiona Fang? .

People think that the most beautiful scenery in the City of London is in the Bank of England, in the stock exchange and in the cucumber? Cucumber? Architecture, in fact, between streets and lanes, also has a charm that has never been appreciated. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the faint shadow of the sun gradually faded, businessmen packed up the goods they took home, tourists hurried by, the small streets would be quiet, and a noisy market would be ushered in next week.

(Editor: Lucy)

Thank you for reading the old collection of the City of London. The article comes from BBC and is collected, sorted and reprinted by. For more information, please visit: /k_bbc/