literally another aussie in london

long grass

The other day I was walking around and I found myself in long grass. Not long long, but knee high.

Suddenly my childhood instinct kicked in and I moved back to where the low grass was.

Why?

Because I was worried there might be snakes in the grass.

In Australia, especially in the dry northern suburbs of Melbourne, long grass means “poisonous will-kill-you-for-accidentally-stepping-on-it snakes”.

Here I was in urban London, worried a Tiger snake was gonna latch on to me.

Where I grew up long grass was a no go area, especially if you saw the grass move oddly.

Golf balls were lost, pants were sullied, and more than a few lizards were mistaken for their killer cousins.

England does have one poisonous snake, The Adder (Vipera berus).

It has killed ten people in the last 49 years.

Not a great strike rate.

And they aren’t a London based snake either, they are based, I can’t be bothered looking it up, but not in London, so it clearly doesn’t matter to me.

There are very few things that kill you ever here, squirrels, buses to close to the curbs, fried chicken, and adders.

But I bet the next time I am walking somewhere with long grass I bet I’ll jump out of it.

July 6, 2009 - Posted by Jrod | living in london | adder, snakes, squirrels, wild animals