Home truths

So we’re back from our travels!

D-Bird has posted up a few photos in a previous blog entry and as she mentioned, yes we look so happy! We had an amazing time over in Chicago and I have been bending any free ear around me to talk about how spectacular the city is. We ventured downtown and admired the Chicago skyline on an open top double decker. The city looks just how you would imagine it to look in the days of Al Capone. I took a few photos of the city which will be up once I’ve finally gotten over the jet lag. I’ve been slobbing it the past couple of days in bed and waking up just in time for quiz time on Channel 5… with all the other insomniacs. I’m usually an early riser so I’ve been somewhat out of sorts the past couple days since landing home. I’ve also come to realise how annoying the presenters on those quiz time shows are and in my delirium have had to strap my hands down in order to stop myself from dialling in on the shows in an attempt to win the £30,000 prize for guessing secret numbers and words on grids etc. It kind of takes me back to when I became mildly obsessed with Deal or No Deal…oh my.

Back to Chicago…the whole place for some strange reason reminded me of denim, the stone washed kind. The street lighting gave the whole city a completely different hue and atmosphere from London. As much I love London, Chicago had a warm feeling about it- it could be because we were there in the summer and not during their arctic winters…but I loved it! The people were so friendly from people on the street giving us directions to acquaintances and new friends we met/made during our time there. There was a sense of openness I haven’t really experienced in any other city I have visited before. The city shared the feeling of a 'don’t just save a smile for your friends' attitude which I have to admit I was compltely sucked in by. Hook, line, sinker- I was smiling and saying 'Hello' to strangers on the street and in our hotel by day 4. Being open, friendly, kind…major basics in forming long standing relationships at times in the past had eluded me not out of rudeness but more out of shyness in turn making me appear stand-offish/rude/etc, etc. These are aspects of a personality I most definitely do not share but through ways of acting with certain people in the past and at times present has meant that I have been viewed in a not so flattering light leading to words and actions becoming misconstrued and misinterpreted. I’m not the most self-centred person I know but I am not saint enough to say I haven’t been on many occasions. What struck me the most whilst being out in Chicago was the open friendliness of the people there, whether it was for landing bigger tips or an actual genuine act of friendliness the point that stands is- if you smile the world smiles with you. No more of this I hate the world, my world, my life, bullshit. If I am ever in that state of morose mind then I’m not going to sit on my arse or fester in bed and blame every social aspect surrounding me for making me feel this way. I’m going to face it head on with a big up yours to social deterioration, after all my finger is better up in the air than stuck up my arse.

X-Bird