View from Europe

I still follow quite closely the news and current events in Australia, using the ABC website almost exclusively for this. Two recent stories in a row made me think a little about what Europe currently means to an expatriated Aussie.

The bombing at Madrid Airport made me sit up and take notice since Gaynor and the girls were only there the day before. Even though the bombed terminal was two kilometres away from the one the girls were transiting through it certainly made me stop and think about what it means to live and travel in such a place. While we feel closer, in some sense, to the centre of the world that also means being closer to world events, even the ugly ones. Certainly Europe has seen (and caused) more than its fair share of wars over the centuries and, in part, I put it down to the large number of sharply varying cultures crammed into a relatively small area. I am still amazed as how quickly culture and language change as you travel, even within a single nation. However, on the whole I think Europe does a pretty fair job of keeping it all in check -- tolerance, building on common ground and the like -- but incidents such as this bombing make you realise it's not all roses yet.

A story about a 40 year old learner caught doing 177km/h -- according to the police (and look he probably was!) -- also caught my attention. Despite growing up in Australia with a fair amount of government and traffic authorities' propaganda, I've never believed that speed alone is dangerous. Since driving in Germany, especially on the autobahns (I'm missing them already!), I'm even more convinced of it. In my opinion the Germans, at least, take a much more balanced and reasonable approach. There are very strict rules governing traffic here and they view their driving much more as a social responsibility than as a personal right. The cost to obtain a licence alone is enough to make one value it.

There have been many reasons why the time we have spent here has been very good for us and getting a different view of the world and life is certainly one of the top three.