St. James Park

　　We ate breakfast at our hotel, and went out for Buckingham Palace a little earlier than we had scheduled the previous night. We wanted to take a walk for some time in St. James Park before standing-by for the Change of Guard Ceremony. We found some ducks, geese, fishes, several insects and squirrels in the park. It was a very comfortable place.
　　I noticed that my daughter was chatting with a family. She seemed to be interested in their feeding something to the squirrels in the park. I knew later that they were from Hamburg and she was talking in German for the kid who didn't understand English. To tell the truth, she speaks German better than English. Something which they were feeding to the squirrels proved to be cashew nuts and she was given a small amount of them. She might be liked by the family. Then, nearly for about half an hour, until the cashew nuts ran out, she was chasing squirrels. While she was feeding them, I had to take pictures of her and squirrels. If humans were bitten by rodents, that would grow serious, but she looked indifferent to my concern. I'm a little shy to strangers, but my daughter is really sociable. Communication is the key to making trips happier. I re-recognized this simple thing, seeing her chatting with them.

ホテルで朝食を済ませ、予定より少し早く出発し、バッキンガム宮殿へ向かった。衛兵交代式を見るためである。早く出たのは、途中でセントジェームス公園内を少し歩いてみようと思ったから。公園内には水辺には鴨がいるし、リスも走り回っている。気持ちの良いところだった。

ふと娘を見ると家族連れと話をしている。彼らがリスに何か与えているので気になったようだ。後で尋ねると、ハンブルクからの旅行者。ドイツ人だとわかってからはドイツ語で会話していたとのこと。実はこの娘は英語よりもドイツ語が得意。で、彼らがリスに与えていたものはカシューナッツと判明。しかも分けてもらっていた。どうやら３人に気に入ってもらえたようだ。それから半時間、カシューナッツが切れるまでリスを追いかけていた。齧歯類に噛まれるとやっかいなことになる可能性があるのだが。僕は知らない人に対して少しシャイなところがあり、またじっと黙っていることが快適で楽なのだが、娘は社交的で愛想が良い。周囲とコミュニケーションを取ることは旅を豊かなものにするなあと再認識させられた。