Survival of the Fittest

Each day I am in London I work from my kitchen table, which has a beautiful view into my back garden area. Not only does it have the perfect little round tree and dozens of pots of herbs and flowers, it is also a constant streaming video of residential National Geographic.

Varietals of song birds are the backdrop to my day; playful squirrels dig up last season's buried nuts, the neighbour's cats do their lazy yoga poses, and our local pack of foxes patrol back and forth along the back stretch.

The past few weeks there has been a new series ... a Mama blackbird built her nest in the giant Hydrangea bush and her young-ins are now looking fluffy and strong.  She has whizzed my head all too close a few times to let me know this space was clearly not mine for the time being.

Today I spied some fluffy movement in the Geranium plant, and lo and behold one of the little guys had  made his first flight attempt.  He has been bouncing around the stone pavement, pecking at bits, a little disorientated and possibly a bit regretful.  Mama has been diligent however, bringing him snacks.

As I watched the little guy I was proud of him for being the strong one of the group ... leaping bravely into the unknown, driven only by nature's forces.  I thought about how in any pack there is the headstrong, the leader, the bull ... and then ... I thought about the foxes.  Gulp.

This dumbass is going to be lunch (and I get to witness the swift snapping up, feathers flying while on my 3P conference call).  It makes you ponder ... is it really the strong and brave that make the first leap, or are they the pre-designed sacrificial lambs for the rest of the herd to be taught the valuable lesson first hand of careful consideration / the cruel world / look before you leap?

We as a society tend to envy the adventurous, high risk takers.  Personally, I think I will take this little lesson as a sign that being cautious and observant, witnessing and learning from others is the best approach to not ending up as someone else's lunch.

Reverse Culture Shock

After living in London for some time now, social behaviours that at first seemed quite strange have become my daily norm (I myself and the proud owner of 5 pairs of skinny pants).  So much so, that on visits back to the US some of my observations suggest I may be undergoing some social conditioning in London.  When this happens I think "whoa", pause to take notice, and reflect on the intricacies of what is the "social Norm".

Let's call this reverse culture shock.  Here are some examples I kept track of on this most recent trip to Chicago (all of which, when considering their opposite point out some of the initial shocks undergone when I moved to the UK)

• People drive - I literally stopped in the street after jumping the El and lugging my bag 6 blocks to remember what that was like, and everyone I knew had a car.

• The accent - oh yeah, they're American here.

• Belligerently standing on the left side of the escalator - a stunt known to result in homicidal thoughts to most Brits, and interestingly ex-pats as well after some time.

•  The size of the robins - holy cow they are huge!

•  Hispanics ... Awww yeah ... Salsa music howling from open car windows

•  On a related note ... Guys check you out ... and talk to you ... and honk ... and whistle ...

•  No skinny pants - I was looking.

•  Tube tops - searches in London were fruitless. Must have been 20 kinds in the PayHalf on Milwaukee.  Yessss.

•  Hipsters. The real ones. Everywhere, and invented in Logan Square.

•  Bottomless coffee. Bot-Tom-Less.  Now if we could only get England to adopt the bottomless Monmouth Latte.

•  What do you call that place where you go to the bathroom?  It's not the loo, as I have called it twice much to the confusion of others

•  Pretty people.  Not quite as easy to find in England.

•  Hearing this: "I'm sorry ma'am, the kitchen closes at 9". Huh?  I've been ridiculed for setting bookings earlier than that.

Social studies have always been a keen interest of mine, and this life experience not only has provided me with a window to observe many European cultures, but also a valuable chance to reflect back on where I come from and the things we do that make us unique as well. Fun!