I'm liking this connecting with the neighbourhood thing.Yesterday I bumped into a guy from the local wine shop. He said "What's new?" and instead of doing the usual politely dismissive "Oh you know, not much, how about you?" thing, we had a conversation. Ooer! I said a bit about what I mentioned the other day, particularly about what it used to be like when I lived in the country. Guess what? It turned out it was exactly the same for him. He mentioned how different the dynamic of city life is, and how it's a bit of a culture shock coming to it from growing up in the country.
It seems strange to say, but I really don't think I've looked at it like that before. I've done plenty of complaining about how people here and now aren't like where and when I grew up, but in a funny way I guess I've overlooked two simple facts: firstly, I'm in a different time and place, and secondly, if I want to chat to everyone like I used to, it is actually allowed.
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One of the most interesting things for me coming back to Scotland after my seven year sojourn in the sunnier climes of the antipodes, was seeing everything differently to when I left. Seven years, as Brad Pitt found in Tibet, is a significant time - the visual, cultural and even climate (yes I had to mention it)of a place change in very real and measurable ways in that time period. Your whole body completely recycles itself in that time as well- so really are you the same "person" too?
We reference ourselves and our environment from the familiar, the staid and the "safe". But isn't this really just a perception. I always find this interesting when talking with older folks who knew Glasgow with trams or when it was just basic A roads to the Border and when you had to fly from Prestwick because the smog was often bad in Abbotsinch.
The question I have for you Mark -
Are we really a product of our environment, or as part of the environment, are we shaping it constantly?
It makes me think of the song my the Killers - "When you were young".
Everything changes, but does it really - is it really just our perception of it all?
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