"Brother's and Sister's...

...rebuild your lives, we're all just takers, give us something tonight..."
 
[Note:  This is an uber-delayed post.  Time has been getting the better of me, as ever.  It was started last week, but I didn't get around to finishing it until now.]

 

So, as some or all of you may have gathered, I've returned from England.  Before you ask, it was great.  Yes, I did.  No, unfortunately I didn't have time to.  Yes, these carrots are juicy.  No, I'm not especially glad to be back, other than to be able to see my friends.
 
The point here is, I made a stunning observation on my travels (mainly while musing sat around in various airports and on various plains).

 

Now, you must bear in mind that I haven't seen and of my friends in England for at least 2 years, some of them not for 3 or 4 years.  I had no idea what to expect of them or what they would be like.  Last time I saw them, they were all pretty different to me, but then I didn't really have much of a group of friends to compare them to.  So what was I to expect when I saw them again?  I sure as hell didn't know, but it definitely wasn't what I saw when I got there.

 

It turns out that most of my friends in England are, in fact..........Almost exactly the same as my friends here.  Sure, there are some obvious differences, but the basics are all the same.  There are the same group dramas, the same long term relationships, the same little rivalries and the same kinds of bonds between specific individuals.  They listen to the same kinds of music, they find the same kind of things funny, and they get up to the same kind of things.  They have the same kinds of problems, the same kinds of goals, and the same kinds of plans.

 

It's just the same.

 

And to me, this is a amazing.  The fact that thousands of miles of ocean separate them, living in totally different types of places (smallish, suburban town not particularly near to anything and Oakville, hoity-toity town next to the biggest city in Canada) and there are some wildly different cultural differences, all of these people have managed to develop into (relatively) balanced, healthy 18 and 19 year olds living similar types of lives. 

 

Life and the people in it never fails to amaze me.