This Is England.

Here I am again! Torn up after a couple of weeks of doing some actual school work I have today handed in a finance project and finished my promotional techniques class with a TCA (which I think stands for time constraint assessment). All should have gone well as I spend good time on both subjects and feel confident enough not to worry. A big advantage I had was that sunny Britain had changed itself into rainy Britain which made it easier to stay inside and actually do some work. A big disadvantage now, as I am closing to the end of my classes as I have one more project to hand in, time that could have been used wisely outside of a pub, in the park or otherwise is now spent catching up on the history of Genghis Kahn through streaming documentaries online. Not that that is all I do, it’s just that I happened to watch it a couple of minutes ago, preceded by an historical overview of Hitler’s rise to power and his ultimate demise. Both documentaries actually came from the BBC, which you would probably expect I am watching every day. However since I am deprived of television I have not even seen an original airing of Top Gear, which may lead you (and I) to consider this whole UK experience to be a bit incomplete, but I would prefer you think that I have used that time more wisely instead.

Just a couple more weeks left in what was once a United Kingdom but now seems to be more and more an independent kingdom of England. Scotland is quite possibly heading towards independence and with peace in Northern Ireland the English will soon lose interest in that area as well, merely leaving them Wales on the British isle. The name Great Britain, which this years is 300 years in official use, seems to hold little relevance anymore as it seems to be only superior in the minds of its citizens, who really are cocky about the oh so great Britain. What I have seen so far is a big distinction between rich and poor, and poor might be only relevant to the way they present themselves, but one who is poor in his mind is poor in his pocket. The “lower” class seems to have little impact in the general area where I am but still holds a grip on the country through crime and a general feeling of unsafety. Speaking of which, three days ago a taxi driver was stabbed to death no more than 30 meters from my front door, they did arrest some people but aren’t sure whether or not they did it or not (http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1391550.0.stabbed_to_death_on_the_rye.php) . Anyway, how is this supposed to make me feel? I lock my doors at night, walk the girls home after a night out, but are you ever truly safe? I guess not. I just hope that crime will move away from my area as it had now gotten the attention of everybody, and it really hasn’t been all that bad here, the neighbors were robbed once, a friend of mine three streets down was robbed, one fight in the town center, and now this killing is really the only crime I’ve personally experienced here so it isn’t all that bad, but it does make me think.

SO school is almost finished, a good time to reflect, but not now as I will do that in another post to make this one shorter and the next one interesting (maybe?). I have some pictures for you though! Cardiff and Stonehenge, maybe I’ll comment on those as well later on.

Merry Christmas!

Stonehenge... really?
(Stonehenge... echt waar?)



Nice surroundings surrounding Stonehenge.
(Mooie omgeving bij Stonehenge.)



Why can I not get a steady picture of this?
(Moeilijk om hier een niet bewegende foto van te maken.)

Cardiff:

This post was created under the influence of Mastodon's 2004 Leviathan.