Wildlife

Moving from the Northern UK climes of Manchester to the semi-tropical climes of South Carolina, as you'd expect there has been quite an adjustment in both the surroundings and environment to get used to in addition to learning how to tolerate the Americans in general (more on this later in the week, i'm sure). There are both the familiar (the ubiquitous grey squirrels scampering up and down the trees always raises a smile) and the familiar but previously unseen - a couple of cockroaches, or "palmetto bugs" as they're known here, have scuttled across my path from time to time (and get popping up on my friend's balcony at a party on Saturday). Having never witnessed a cockroach/palmetto bug in the UK, the only place i can immediately remember seeing them on TV or film was an old X-Files episode where the cockroaches appear to be attacking people - a particular image of them burrowing into a person's arms and crawling under the skin springs to mind. Suffice to say, i nearly had a heart attack when i saw one scuttling around my feet - fortunately, my British stiff-upper-lippedness (not evident here, believe me) saved me from too much embarrasment.

From here, we go straight to the unfamiliar - these include small green lizard things (which i guess ARE lizards) that scuttle from bush to bush across the path (and my steps as well). Then there are scarlet red birds in the trees that give you the evil eye as you go past (it's like "The Birds" all over again!). There are also some small brownish-yellow birds that hop up and down the street and have rather disproportionately long legs. If there was a Bird Ministry of Silly Walks, i'm sure these guys would be in a class of their own.

Finally, we turn to the plants themselves - the most noticeable here, of course, is the Palmetto tree (South Carolina is named The Palmetto State in case you didn't know). These are on ever corner, in every park (and there's a nice bit of greenery at both ends of my street) and add a nice touch of exoticness to the place and air (i noticed this in particular when walking to a friend's house on Saturday night - it certainly didn't feel like i was in the middle of a city). Of course, the fact that they're palmetto (which literally means "small palm") means that the fronds can often hang low over the paths. It's reassuring in a way to know that no matter which country i'm in, i'm always going to end up with my head in the branches.