Reflections Of A Squirrel On A Hot July Afternoon

Another branch of the old oak bent with slightest crack under my weight. Yes, that was definitely a nice jump.

 It’s so hot today. The whole park is bathed in the sun and there is almost tangible laziness in the heavy air. Some like it. I don’t. Well, I do enjoy an occasional sunny day- makes my fur glitter so nicely. As if it was made of silver. Or diamonds. Wait…I’m not a magpie!

So what if I’m vain? Another nut. Mmm….this one is delicious indeed. Ripened, nicely rounded. Why don’t squirrels get the right to have feelings? People are so ignorant. They think that only they can experience the ‘deepest feelings’ of love and hatred. They come here with their impressive books and think that by reading ‘A la recherche du temps perdu’ they can find the time time they’ve lost. Or that by immersing themselves in Shakespearean novels they can learn something about love and passion. Well, fair enough maybe they can. Those are not the ones that really bother me.

I don’t like the ones that come here and instead of enjoying the immensity of the trees and the gracefulness with which we jump, keep staring at the screens of their phones.

Lovey-dovey couples that come here and sit it on the bench but instead of talking to each other, snapchat (I think I got this right but can’t be sure- we don’t need this kind of modality in our kingdom) their pictures and think that by capturing them on Instagram with hasghtags: #beautifulsunnyday# anothergorgeousdayinLondon# omgasquirrel they will convince other people hat they are having amazing time.

But are they? How can they really be here and enjoy the moment, enjoy the NOW when they are instagramming their moments away?  Maybe they are the ones that should read ‘A la recherche du temps perdu’. But then again, how can they FIND something they never experienced because they were too busy living in another dimension?

‘Who gives you the right to judge others?’- you could ask. Well fair enough, I’m only a squirrel. But then, again, isn’t a squirrel entitled to its own opinion? After all, living in a world without mobile phones and ipads, I get a chance to observe. And observing people is so interesting. No wonder they call it people-watching.

This couple, there, on my right, is engaging in some serious PDA right now (see, how good I am with this slang. People-watching is definitely worth my time. I learn so much). But is it really public if no one but me can see them at the moment? Now, that’s a philosophical question. They are in a public place. True. But there is no one around them except for me. Well, I’ll ask some of my friends for their opinion.

I prefer this to ignorance, however. At least they are embracing the moment and truly LIVING it, instead of pretending to exist in virtual world whilst making this one slip away.

Oh, here’s another nut. This one is going to taste just delicious.