I’m amazed at how shallow some of the people we have come across here in Florida have been (although always polite and never verbally rude). Never shallow in personality but shallow in the way they look at the world around them. They walk with closed eyes in a ‘fool before the abyss’ sort of way.
We were walking down ‘Snake Bite Trail’ in the everglades. It was hot and sticky. A heavy closeness made it ideal for mosquitoes and the warblers were taking advantage. Yellow Rumpeds, Parulas as well as Blue Grey Gnatcatchers were taking advantage of the ‘winter insect windfall’. However, it was not the warblers that had our attention. We came across a largish snake. Not the size of the big constrictor we had found a few days earlier but big enough, and right next to the path. The two vertical lines on the snout told us we had found a Cottonmouth; one of the four venomous snakes in Florida.
As I was cautiously photographing it a gent walked quickly between me and the snake. Normally this would have annoyed the hell out of me … as my daughter would have said … “RUDE”. This time however it alarmed me… but not as much as it did the Cottonmouth for it reared and prepared to strike. He missed being bitten by the breadth of a hair. Lucky for him. Lucky for me. I didn’t fancy carrying him back to the road … he was a big bloke!
The world is beautiful if you look in enough detail. If only people would open their eyes and see what is around them they would see it too and share an awareness and a respect. Is that asking too much?
Letter From Norfolk 