Week fo(u)r

Today marks my four week anniversary in England. I've succesfully completed life in a foreign country for 4 weeks. Some people consider the simple feat of living to be monumental. I might agree if I were to have any real challenges to its' sustainability in my case.

Géraud won't let me starve, so that takes away the challenge of feeding oneself, Géraud won't kick me, there goes the challenge of safe/warm lodging, and beyond those two needs, there are the necessities of the environment, which I can't control. We need oxygen to breath, and so far-so good, even if I'm living in an industrial city rife with polluting factories. I'm trying to think if there might be more to bare-living, but I can't really think of anything. With food, water, roof-over-head, air, and the occasional simple pleasure from passing observations, I don't think I can complain. Essentially, complications and complaints are an awful result of thinking too much in lieu of just being. There is a quote that I really enjoy from this book that I read while in Paris. And being a scribbler of things, I noted it down in my journal and was lucky enough to stumble across the other day while filling in my greatfuckacrosstheworld map.

la plupart des hommes refusent de penser: ils ont été créés pour vivre, pas pour penser

Unfortunately, I'm the kind of gal who didn't accredit the quote to anyone. Good job allysin. My guess of the author is, André Breton (unlikely), Boris Vian (more likely), or Herman Hesse(possible).

I'v been thinking about what to write in a blog and mostly I want to talk about Chavs. In England there is the social class known as the Chavs, it's pretty derogatory, but pretty accurate (and funny). In fact, I first heard of Chavs from Dianne after she heard about it from her two nieces in England. They alerted her to the emergence of a class of people who wear name brands, lacoste, burberry, etc... only to show the branding. And, TRACKSUITS, that is a huge identifier of a Chav, apparently.

Chav Caricature or Real Chav Somewhere???

OH, and maybe the greatest part is that while I was searching the internet for something related to Widnes, I came across this website for voting on and discussing the biggest Chav towns in England. There are many an article about Widnes and Runcorn....and Widnes is in the running for Biggest Chav town in England. And little me was lucky enough to end up living in this lovely town. Female chavs are also referred to as Chavettes...GREAT



After the article about Widnes, there are a few comments that talk about how if you are a single female without kids and several baby daddies you just won't fit in in Widnes. I concur. When the weather isn't complete shit, I stroll around town and I find myself always the target of baby stroller violence. The sidewalk is no longer safe for two legs that aren't fronted by a baby-buggy.