Stop the world, I want to get off

If this is someone's idea of a big cosmic joke, let me tell you, it's starting to freak me out. This is the third time I've met a fellow Salopian* in Shanghai. The first time was some guy who used to play cricket at Whittington Castle and attended Lakelands School. Yesterday, there was the guy who did French at Adams School in Wem, and today I meet a tourist from Shrewsbury who's based in Japan. As you can see, two Shropshire lads in as many days -- Shropshire to Shanghai emigration is starting to kick in. It's becoming spooky. No longer can I practice my salsa on the subway, because I'll probably bump into an old school friend whom I haven't seen in years and it'll all seem terribly embarassing. I'll be afraid to buy condoms for fear that an Ellesmerian will overhear me and report it to my gran. What is it that makes Shanghai a Salopian magnet? Is it that there's a disproportionate amount of Salopians here, or is it just that we're all drawn together by some magnetic force? The ghosts of Charles Darwin, Thomas Telford and T'Pau's musical career seem to be guiding our every move, bringing us closer together. But for what? Fuck it. I'm just going to give in and start up Shropshire Expat. The way we're going we'll soon outnumber all the other expats put together anyway. In a way it's kind of fitting that the descendents of Darwin, the man behind "survival of the fittest," get to see just that in action every day on the highways, byways and pavements of Shanghai... * For those not in the know, a Salopian is someone from Shropshire, a green, insignificant county on the Welsh/English border, best known for it's sheep and it's cameo in some sort of TV commercial down under. Those Aussies, eh? Anything with a connection to sheep...