Hi,

Outsider view (See the little speck east of the North and Southern Seas, typing at a keyboard in a lonely apartment building?):

I'm one of the don't-fits. At school there was name-calling, there was mocking, there was ignoring.

There never was bullying.

When I encountered the word in an English book, I had to look it up because from the context it didn't make sense. Basically the whole context there didn't make sense. Then the children were hit with a ruler or a rod by a teacher: the book became more and more incomprehensible, except that there seemed to be a method to the madness: They all were violent.

When I caught two ferries and went to England, three years ago, I had the new experiences of:
* Police helicopters with search lights hovering loudly overhead at night
* Alarms and sirens literally every day, even on days where I cycled through the country-side the whole day.
* City neighbourhoods so threatening in their lack of liveliness that I wasn't sure I'd safely cycle out at the other end.

I still don't know, and it's a limited view, but though most British I came into contact with were very friendly, I don't think the problem is with the behaviour of individuals.

Bye,
                                                                Mysha