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Monday 17 August 2009

Herding and hunting


I remember once reading about a guy whose idea of heaven was to be sitting down to dinner with friends, girlfriends and ex-girlfriends included and everyone getting on with one another.

Well for him I think the emphasis was on the notion of the ex-girlfriends and perhaps present girlfriend getting on together as a group. Essentially simply a group of friends.

Yesterday I was so blessed. Several of my friends some of whom I have known for several years, one or two others who I’ve very recently met and a couple more inbetween, came over to my place for a barbeque in the back garden. From what I could tell everyone seemed to be getting on with one another.

Curiously the males of the group had all positioned themselves on one side of the table leaving the remaining seats for the females. Tribal instinct? Innate herding tendency? The females were certainly curious. Birds of a feather? If so what type of bird one wonders. On being questioned about this male togetherness one of the three explained that it was do with having the “wall” of the garden fence, trees and shrubs behind their backs so that they could survey the scene. Aah, thought we five females, to gaze upon the female form peut etre? No, he informed us, to keep a watchful eye on the food!!

Perhaps a little disappointing for us gals to be put second to the food. But that was just one point of view. Was that the majority opinion one wonders. I suppose though it just symbolises the tribal instinct where survival is foremost. The guys could see what predators might be present and from what angle such menace might approach. What or who could the predators be? I can only guess that us girls were what the guys were protecting the food from. I have to say I was left feeling a little miffed but absolutely had to laugh. And hey, that’s primal instincts for you, you just can’t predict or control them and I guess that’s the beauty of having a bunch of different people round for a social gathering – you can just never tell how its going to turn out!