late evening dip

today is the Swiss National Day - we were invited to breakfast by our neighbours and so we had a lovely start to the day with good food and good company, sitting in their orchard. Breakfast ended for us at 2pm - I don't usually refuse schnapps but it was a bit early in the day for me and I bowed out gracefully to read my book. Three hours later I woke up....made pizza for the pizza eaters and then we went down to the lake to watch the fireworks. They were great, as ever.

Whilst being an absolute hater of nationalism in all forms and think that borders and passports and all that garbage should be done away with, I am fascinated by group identities - I guess that 20 years of social science training kind of brainwashes you like that. My not-so-closet anthropologist Self was crowd-watching tonight, thinking about Schulz's Professional Stranger and how those of us who don't fit so easily into group identities probably find that level of detachment easier than people who simply fit in . There must be something very happy in being able to celebrate who you are with a few bangs and flashes of fireworks, staying up late and beer. Who am I? I'm like them. We're an Us. I was happy sitting in the crowd and saying oooooh and ahhhhhh at the fireworks....but I was also aware that, if someone asked, I'd have to admit to not quite being a part of the Us and having deep reservations about the need for too much Usness anyway.....who am I? In the words of Facebook: It's complicated :-)