Nikivolt

Smart City

smart city arte di vivere

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True Gentleman Engineer

"Nothing can stop me" - wrapping myself in a short jacket in line at the gangway, I repeated to myself over and over again. Neither the piercing wind, nor the fear of flying, nor the violent cough from the severe flu the day before. I was on the crest of the wave - invulnerable, persistent, self-confident. A contract with a large company, which has been battling for several months, the presentation of a high-tech product at Disrupt London and meetings with potential clients in their London offices - a promising future pleasantly teased the imagination.

“It's relatively safe,” the gentleman on the right told me, noticing my excitement as the plane's engine began to rev up. “I've designed it.” 

“Three in the boat, not counting the dog,” I thought. English humor turned out to be something similar to our Odessa 🙂

“Relatively” - answered him aloud. 

And then - a 3-hour entertaining conversation about autonomous flying machines with an engine designer. The degree of interest went off scale - and there is no more hum of engines, and there are no air pockets, and the plane is not so badly tilting in the air. 

"What is a must-try or see in London?" - finally, I almost forgot about the main thing. I was searching for emotion and color - arte di vivere... And I got the answer that the London paraphernalia I needed, style and spirit are far from the campy aristocratic - Fish & Chips wrapped in newspaper, which they eat on the go under an umbrella, running out of a street diner. And this gentleman is an integral part of the picture, part of the culture that we studied in English lessons. 

“What's the lovely weather today” - we said goodbye as we left the airport on the street on a rainy night. 

New Englishman Businessman

I will meet New Englishman a day later. It looks very different. There is nothing traditionally English about him, he comes from distant countries. A young and enterprising business owner, there are thousands of them in London. His tech startup, artificial intelligence that protects financial companies from fraud, was a resounding success. We met “for a drink or two” in a London pub and immediately found a lot in common. Purposeful, inquisitive, with glowing eyes - several hours passed unnoticed in a conversation about human behavior, brain function and algorithms.

Two characters, two engineer - Gentleman and New Englishman are two parts of one whole. I read about one in books, and I'll read about another later in Forbes. It's strange how little they have in common, but how much I have with each of them. 

smart city arte di vivere

Two cultures and two eras - everything that I saw in London smacked of dualism and a mosaic took shape in one time dimension: you can leave the legendary Savoy Hotel and find yourself in the equally famous Google office. Take a panoramic photo of the Tower Bridge, where the streamlined shapes of The Gherkin will organically appear as a guest from the future. Drive in a black taxi along aristocratic Baker Street past the house of Sherlock Holmes, and an hour later find yourself surrounded by the offices of famous corporations on the Canary Warf Peninsula.   

London deservedly bears the title of Smart City, not only because it is possible to predict the arrival of transport, taking into account the weather and repair work. It is a city where culture meets technology, and both retain their unique identity and dignity.   

And Fish & Chips and London Rain are relevant and in sync at any given time.[/ Vc_column_text] [/ vc_column] [/ vc_row]

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