Fox Hunting

Fox hunting is often thought of as "a primarily British activity in which trained dogs pursue Red Foxes, followed by human hunters who are usually on horses but sometimes on foot". That's how our beloved Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia describes this traditional equestrian activity which divides opinions around the world.

That was also my vision of the matter until last Monday when I witnessed this weird performance (check some photos from http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=minkki&s=rec) on our courtyard. That afternoon special included two older men (with beer guts), lots of different equipments (mostly nets) and about a half of the recidence's staff. Oh, and of course two red foxes. Apparently these two wild creatures had decided to abandon their former recidence (the bushes on the other side of the street) and move to our garden.

As you can guess, that wasn't tolerated by management and so The Great Fox Hunt began. Around midday on Monday our quad was all about the action. The crowd included these two aforesaid gentlemen, our housing manager, one of the cleaners and also our security guard. They were armed with different kind of nets and tools, and even rake played a part of this classic fight against the nature. The tactics was simply: all of them were running around the yard with their equipments trying to catch the fox. Well, quite obvious, the result wasn't the one hoped for: men got tired and the foxes ran free.

After several long shots they finally managed to caught the bigger one of them. Then they decided to take a break and smoke some cigarettes (which are very helpful especially when you are out of breath). Within 20 minutes it all started again with one exception: there was only one fox to catch this time. Well, the things carried on as usual: several men and a fox all over the place. Eventually after many frustrating moments the last fox standing was caught as well and The Great Hunt was over.

According to that security guard the foxes are city foxes living in the bushes across the street. After catching they were taken to the vet for a check and then released. So the result of The Great Hunt is this: the foxes are back in our hoods and now we can just hope they don't decide to squad our yard again.

Hopeless and Lazy?

I haven't felt this excluded in my life. There's this barrier and it seems I can't cross it. I have all these English speakers around me and at some point I'm lacking the ability to connect with them. That ability is my first language. I don't speak English as my mother tongue. It means it's difficult for me to hear you at the noisy pub or understand all these nuances you have in this art you call English. It means it takes me twice as much time and effort to read the same amount of text and also some expressions might be unknown for me.

Everybody and especially all the English speakers know very well how damn proud French are what it comes to their language. And if you compare it to English you might think that they don't even have reason to feel that way. French is spoken by approximately 150 million people as a mother tongue or at least fluently. English is the most widely taught and understood language in the world with 354 million people as native speakers. Frenchmen are often considered arrogant and pompous but sometimes I've got this feeling that English speakers ain't that different. They might not be as self-important but surely at times they take people's proficiency for granted.

And I know it's not even that hard for me. My level of English is quite good so I can't even imagine how it's with all these people who barely understand the word you say. And they have to manage out there in the real world (I wouldn't call my reality the one the most of the immigrants and refugees have to deal with every day in London). I don't have to work my ass off with two or more jobs, live somewhere outside sixth zone and try to carry on normal life while living in totally different culture, society and weather separated from all the loved ones.

London is a cruel city if you can't carry on certain style of living. You'll have to have certain dialect and profession or work, live in the certain part of the city (most likely inside the first or at least second zone) and most of all you'll have to have enough MONEY to accomplish all that because most of the things in London aren't free. But still somehow London manages to seduce you, and then, when you least expect it, it breaks your heart. And even though in that particular moment you swear you're SO over with it, eventually you will come back for more.