Off the boat, back in London … just in time for more European anxiety over the Dutch ‘no’ vote. And from where I sit, there are human factors that seem like they made this vote a foregone conclusion.

BBC last night was full of the news of the Dutch voting down the EU constitution and what that signifiies. Is it just because I’m on vacation that I feel like they’re working way too hard? Given the current attitudes throughout Europe (and to differing extents throughout the world) the question seems like it should be “Why would the Dutch or the French or the English or any of the other populaces of the EU countries vote for the Union?” The problem these days with having a union — any union (business partnership, marriage, Euro-superpower conglomerate) — is that people are smarter than they used to be, but less wise. You can’t have a union without sacrifices, you can’t pull together for a greater goal without a lot of smaller goals falling by the wayside … and people don’t want to do that. Governing bodies want to do that — though arguments abound even among them — but the people don’t want to.

This picture was a mistake. We were riding through London on one of the sightseeing buses, and I meant to capture the wonderful scenery without including the huddled little father and son at the back. But I like it all the same — London is such a big and wonderful place, its monuments and history are so completely incredible, but the people seem to me like they’re just tired at some basic level. And cold and lonely and vulnerable. I totally understand. We’re in this wonderful location as a foursome, and the vacation is weighing a bit heavy with all of us as well. We’re only four people. We’ve concluded ten days of being pampered and jettisoned around in pure comfort, having abundant food and leisure activities thrown at us constantly … and now we are all thinking our separate thoughts again about what we want, and having to deal with the fact that our thoughts aren’t identical.

There’s a reality show I’ve seen here twice now called “Holiday Breakdown” that is haunting me. In the usual way of reality shows, they take the ingredients for human divisiveness and kick them up a notch. Specifically, they take two families that are completely different kinds of people and have them both take each other on their dream holiday for a week. When the completely predictable tensions appear, the show provides narration in that annoying superior way that reality shows have and they stage con-fabs so that the families can get together and find out (surprise!) that they don’t like each other and can’t get along.

Like I said, it’s been haunting me. I would hope that our foursome can deal with our differences better than that would indicate, I would hope that the countries that may want to form a union can deal with their differences better than that as well … but to ignore that aspect of our nature seems like it would have to doom both of those worthwhile goals to failure.