back in the UK

Another trip back ‘home’, and another opportunity to reflect on what it would be like if/when it really does become my home again.  I don’t need to repeat that it is cold and expensive … although in this four-week visit I only saw a few light drops of rain on my second-to-last day, and a market stall in the middle of the City of London was selling three ripe avocados for £1, so it could be worse!  & perhaps I don’t need to repeat how pretty it is, from the great buildings in the City to the beautiful villages and woodlands (full of wood anemones, primroses and bluebells at this time of year).  As an added benefit, on this visit I stayed for a couple of days with a new friend who lives near Heathrow … and also near to some great moorlands that I would not have expected in that part of England.  A keen birder (I met him on my birding trip to the Seychelles last year), he took me out for a couple of birding walks, where I not only got to enjoy the scenery but also saw many birds, from Redstart and Green Woodpecker to a lovely Dartford Warbler – although unfortunately we didn’t get to see either of the calling cuckoos.

I was reminded again, however, of how materialistic (and infantilised) the western culture is now, how much STUFF people buy, such that most people’s bathrooms seem to contain enough products to last them a lifetime, and so much food is thrown away.  The contrast with my lifestyle couldn’t be greater, given that I can only buy what I can carry in my rucksack!  I love my lightweight lifestyle, the way that accumulating ‘stuff’ is replaced by accumulating memories – and I hope that when the time comes to settle down, I can maintain this approach.

I was surprised this trip to see so much evidence of old people and their health issues.  Not sure how much this is due to the ageing population, and how much to their increased visibility (perhaps because of their wealth, relative to younger people), but I saw many old people in the streets with various fairly hi-tech mobility aids, and more surprisingly, those TV adverts which weren't demonstrating the above-mentioned infantilism (lots of 'cute' cartoon-type characters) were advertising retirement homes, shower aids for those with mobility impairments, etc.  & on a separate note, there does seem to be a much higher consumption of alcohol than when I left the UK in 2006 - something I see in Brits I encounter whilst travelling, as well as many I meet in the UK.  Thankfully my birding friend, although 12 years older than me, is still slim, fit and healthy, and not a big drinker, a good indicator that some such people do still exist!

As ever, this trip back showed me much I would like to go back to, and much that I am happy to avoid!


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