Robert says that I have a habit of going up to complete strangers and then rambling on about nothing for ages. There is some teeny-weeny truth in this but it does often provide background that adds to the pleasure of a walk, for instance. Of course in London I’d never dream of doing such a thing.
This week I had an appointment with a nurse to take a blood test. (The high blood pressure saga continues.) She had a framed photo of two owl chicks on her desk. I asked what type of owl but she didn’t know. The picture was taken by a patient who saw the chicks on a branch near Hammersmith Bridge. She has an allotment with bird feeders, nesting boxes and a tame fox, Charlie. Her mother, who lives in Poland, keeps chickens and ducks but for pleasure and not to eat. Sometimes foxes kill the chickens which upsets her. My nurse also has bird boxes at home and a feeder outside the kitchen window. She is going to re-position the boxes so that they are facing west, in accordance with Homan’s advice. The cats often find the birds’ nests in her garden. She thinks the birds don’t pick safe enough sites. I felt our chat had done my blood pressure more good than the pills I’m on.
Urban living destroys socialisation. In villages all over the world women used to meet at the pump, or where the clothes are washed, or at the shop, to chat. The menfolk gathered to watch the women at work and smoked and chatted. This is the woof and warp of an integrated society and it has unravelled in cities. It has been replaced by social media and I suggest that this does not provide the same fulfilment – yes, that’s how it’s spelt. Real face-time is better than computer FaceTime.
It is not all bad news. The Benevolent Society of St Patrick provides funding for fortnightly tea dances at the Irish Centre in Camden where elderly Irish people who live isolated lives can meet up. As I more-or-less qualify I took a turn on the dance floor with Catriona. We will both have to put in a bit of work before we audition for the next series of Strictly.
This juxtaposition of tower block and feeders in my garden brings to mind this not entirely relevant bit from St Matthew’s Gospel, chapter six:
Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
I only mention it because I’m always banging on about obscure books and, hitherto, have never quoted anything from a book that we all, if you are my age, have more than one copy of. What an ugly sentence.
You are a watchword for good sense with me. But surely you are not right about socialisation and cities. “Communities” are almost always small places with too many people living in them and hating it. A city is a place with a vast array of possibilities for human interaction, and that is why they are where progress happens.
But mainly – I think you should be as dottily chatty in Town as in Country. I know I am and it is astonishing how the Urban Carapace disappears in a second to two. Usually. (Urban frostiness is only the operational mode for the assumed anonymity which is so valuable when one has the luxury of brushing against hundreds of people.)
I’m sticking to my guns. We have generations of genes that have adapted for living in caves and then villages. Of course it’s good to chat in the city – as I did with my Polish nurse.
Lovely
Looking forward to seeing you in London soon I hope, meanwhile happy Christmas.
An interesting post today on many levels:
I will now realign my unoccupied south facing bird nesting box to the west – just like the Dowth Megalithic Passage Tomb in the winter solstice setting sun.
Since I began keeping a dog I now somehow have permission to strike up conversations with random strangers – also accompanied by their person validating canine.
The Bible has accompanied and influenced our civilisation throughout history. Changed in physical form and translation it remains however a constant.
In the Internet age may I recommend this daily reading: https://www.bibleinoneyear.org/
I have two nesting boxes in my tiny garden. One is south facing and one west facing and both are unoccupied. So true about having a dog. I was with a friend who has two pugs and a group of LAMDA students stopped to chat with the pugs and us. I have signed up for a daily e mail from Bible in One Year and will see how I get on. It may annoy me if it’s not the King James Bible.