Chloe will be visiting England soon (don’t forget about the event, Londoners!) and I felt obligated to warn her, as a fellow child of the Pacific Northwest, about a feature of UK life that I find shocking:
When the weather warms up, the parks turn into make-out central. People spread out their picnic blankets, pop open the champagne, and then proceed to roll around groping each other.
Now, it might just be Cambridge – I haven’t travelled much in this country – but it is an extraordinary sight.
Today was the first full-fledged example. It was still cold enough that I had to wear gloves, but huge numbers of people were in shorts and skimpy tops, lolling about in the fields by the Mill, congregating in droves on Jesus Green, necking! This is highly amusing, particularly if the participants are the corduroy-trousered academic types.
The English have a reputation for reticence but I guess that picnics must offer some kind of aphrodisiac. Or something.