When you blink your eyes...

I've been back in the US now for over 48 hours and I'm starting to get back to normal already after a day at work. On the way back home we did get first class on both flights 8.5 hours to Atlanta, then ~2 hours to OKC. It was nice to be able to relax, get a good meal, and free alcoholic beverages all the way. Thanks to Kevin for the hookup on the good deal on the plane tickets.

I'm still going through my pictures, haven't had time to start cropping and selecting the best ones to post. I think I've really got some decent ones. Possibly some that could be really great. I did post 1 of them I like a lot as my splash screen, one of the beautiful Morrissey. I heard a British guy at the concert scream out "I love you Morrissey". His girlfriend turned and said "What are you gay or something?". "I'm not gay, but I love Morrissey, its ok because.. He's Morrissey." Anyway, it was really special for me to see him perform.

I wanted to talk a little about my overall thoughts on the UK culture from my American perspective. I doubt this will be the last time either.

They have many beautiful women there. On average the women seemed to be pretty well proportioned, I took it upon myself to take an ad hoc survey while I was there walking the streets. British men are possibly more horny on average than US men and that is saying a lot. I say this as far as how often heads would turn when a beautiful women would walk by and what the men would say. If not more than the US at least equal to.

The British seem to be even more fascinated by celebrity than the US as a whole. Their is a high distribution of tabloid magazines on the streets, everyone wants to know about what's going on with anyone famous it seems. I think that is a big contributor to the continuing British monarchy. There really isn't much point to their existence other than the British just like it. It gives them something to talk about.

As I've said before fashion and style is very important in Britain. It has become more important to me as well. I really like a lot of the direction the style is going in now. Here are some of the interesting styles I noticed.

Male Capri Pants - they called them 3/4 pants but they are really just baggy capri pants. It was more common for men to be wearing them than women. At the airport coming home I saw 2-3 consecutive couples walk by where the man had on capri pants and the women had on long pants. I really don't think it is gay looking as I used to. I don't think I could bring myself to do it but they looked comfortable.

Female Sagging - it was common in the more trendy groups for girls to have their underwear hanging out of the top of their pants. Much more common to see a woman sag than a man. I saw many g-strings displayed out of the top of a pair of shorts or pants. Kind of tacky looking at times but I don't mind it too much.

Printed t-shirts - everyone had on printed t-shirts most of the time. Subject matter varied from just random sayings to bands to profane and rude sayings. It was a big fad it seemed to have random US cities or made up US sports teams on shirts like the ones that you can get at Old Navy accept there they are sold in the expensive trendy designer stores. A huge variety of band t-shirts could be seen, especially at Reading. It was amazing to see what a wide array of different styles were represented. I came there with mainly just plain t-shirts. But the last day at Reading I wore a Pixies - Doolittle t-shirt; I had 10 people talk to me and comment on it, "Pixies - Yea!" Everyone is checking out everyone else's t-shirt to see what they would dare have displayed on their chest. Some went for the more shocking and profane sayings, others went with the more subtle humor t-shirts. This is done in the US also, but it was to an extreme in England.

Hair Styles - The hair was in many ways similar to the stylish hair in the US but probably more flamboyant on a whole. Men where not afraid to grow their hair longer and shaggier which is also a trend in the US. The hair style of say The Strokes in the US would fit in with what is now the norm in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised if the Strokes had some to do with that. They did headline the Reading festival last year, that shows how big they are there. Also, a lot of the new wave hair styles from the 80's seem to be coming back. I was looking for a guy with a flock of seagulls haircut but that's hasn't quite come back yet.

Army Style Coats - It is very trendy to have the vintage army coats. This is also something you can see bands like The Strokes or the Libertines wear. The long shaggy hair with the army coats was probably the norm at the Reading festival. I saw many on the streets of London dressed the same way.

Male braclets - I myself have been wearing bracelets often for awhile. I have obviously started a fad that has spread around the world. What I saw most was probabaly wooden beaded braclets. Most often a lot of bracelets at once.

Well, I need to get some rest now. I will continue this later as well as finish the post process on my photos.