A Walk in the Park

When I got up yesterday the sun was shining and there was not a raindrop in sight. Naturally, I decided it was a time for a walk through Hyde Park with the Nikon. Say hello to nature, London style...

The squirrels in Hyde Park are so accustom to people enticing them with food for a picture that when you stop and assume the photo taking stance, the squirrels literally attack you. While I was taking this little guys pictures his buddies were stalking from behind and before I knew it I was surrounded! I walked away and they followed me for about 15 yards! I have never wished for a handful of acorns before but the next time I take pictures of squirrels I will have some sort of goodies to distract them as I run away!

As I was heading back to the flat I met this guy feeding peanuts to the birds. He was a cute little quintessentially British man... with terrible teeth, a mumbling accent and a terrible gambling problem. I talked to him for a good 20 minutes... so I am a little lonely when Chris is at work ; ) Anyways, my British friend told me all about all the birds and how he feeds them on Mondays, Wednesdays and sometimes on Saturdays when there are no horse races worth betting on!

This is a robin. He sat there staring at the peanuts and would occasionally swoop down but never actually got close enough to get any.

This is a yellow tit... yes, that is the name of it so stop snickering... There was also a blue tit but he was too quick for me to snap a picture. There were about 15 of these little guys hovering about in the trees waiting for their turn to land on this guys hand and snack on a little piece of peanut. I like my new friend and feel a little bad that I only took pictures of his hand and never even asked his name! I guess I will go see him tomorrow... after I check the horse races!


It is hard to believe the all 3 of the ducks above are the same... sort of... the guys with the green heads are male mallards and the 3rd one is a female mallard. As you can see, once these duckies determined I had no food for them, they swam away.

That is about it for London Wildlife with Florida Girl...

Until next time.

XOXO

Thanks Nicholas!

I was exchanging emails with my good friend, Nicholas, yesterday and I tried to explain my lack of knowledge as it relates to the English language. Now, I can speak "American" English and I think I occasionally have a knack for grammar... although my spelling is atrocious! However, when it comes to proper English (as the Brits call it) I am at a complete loss. I spend most of my day asking people to repeat themselves. Unfortunately, no one ever says the same thing when they repeat it which just leaves me even more lost! I try to read lips but since I have not mastered this technique I usually look like I am staring at their bad teeth! I have a rule about asking people to repeat themselves 2 times in a row. As a result of this asinine rule, I spend about 60% of my day grinning and nodding. Because "Grin and Nod" is my second rule! Who knows what I have agreed to or smiled about over the last week.
I receive some funny looks which I respond to by laughing. I find that when I start laughing other people laugh, too. I tell myself we are laughing together but reality is that they are likely laughing at me. I can't even imagine what must be going through peoples heads when I am bobbing my head like a hula dancer on the dashboard and breaking into fits of spontaneous laughter! I am really helping the American image!
Now the second part of this is the number of people in London who have a mixture of accent. I worked with a Letting Agent who was Korean and had a British/Korean accent. Seriously, this is just wrong. I think that the hour I spent with her was being taped for candid camera or punk'd or whatever practical joke show is popular in London! She was asking me questions.. I could tell by the way she looked at me when I did not respond with an actual answer. I exaggerated my nod, just in case she had missed it, and flashed my pearly whites but she kept looking at me like I was supposed to say something. So I just started talking... I told her about Chris and how he was in Singapore. I talked about Moe and how he had woken me up the the middle of the night by stepping on my chest and then staring at me. Essentially, I started talking and did not stop until we got back to her office! All of you who know me well, know that I am perfectly capable of talking non-stop for at least an hour... maybe longer. This poor agent probably thinks I am an idiot... However, I did tell her that I had a degree from the University of Florida! She essentially knows my life story.
To top it all off, I met a potential work contact at The American Bar. She was very talkative but she was British and drunk! All the lip reading, repeating and grinning/nodding in the world couldn't help me! I am banking on the fact that she was drunk enough to not realize that I had no idea what she was saying but sober enough to think that I was a lovely person deserving a break!