Clouds

There were two levels, up high which weren't noticeably moving, and lower down which were being blown along swiftly.


I've been sitting at a table next to a few Scots this evening, Glasgow area I would guess. It's funny to think that I was submerged in these accents for so long, but now they seem so different. I never picked up the voice, always a posh English sound, however inaccurate that might have been. I'm trying to remember who else was 'English' in my secondary school year (of ~150)...struggling.

Now I work with people from all over the world. From someone's name, I can't tell whether they are male or female, if English is their first language or not, which countries they have studied in, whether they follow a religion or not... All this teaches me not to make assumptions, to try and take time to get to know people, to be as approachable as I can.

And there is nothing like hanging out with trans guys to blast away any set ideas about sexuality; the 'assume straight unless indicated otherwise' concept just doesn't work. One guy last week made laugh, he said 'I'm not gay, even when I'm really drunk', like it was something to apologise for.

So living in the middle of England (literally, as in couldn't be further from the sea), I find myself exposed to a wonderful variety of humanity. I hope this has changed the way I think of and treat my fellow humans. I also would love to move back up north, and as well as considering how I might do this, I should also think about how I am going to take what I have learned with me.


Readers hanging on for the 'after' shot from yesterday's 'before': sorry, it looked exactly the same.