Canterbury - 31st October, 2005

Travelling back to Canterbury with literally the very last of the few things that we own, slung in the cavernous boot of the Saab, it struck me that in our own way we had become refugees. There is much talk in the US and increasingly so here, of the phenomenon of white flight.

Why have we moved? Primarily because we choose to have the boys in a Waldorf Steiner school and Canterbury is one of the best of these. But in the depths of my soul there are other reasons or at least other reasons that have become more apparent to me as I have travelled back and forth; I like change and this is a changing time for us. I like the fact that Canterbury and Kent seems so much more English. Historical Britain is so much more part of life here whereas West London seems to lack a defining history or culture that you could readily identify. For many years a culture of Britishness has been suppressed for fear of being labled nationalistic or worse, racist.

But coming back to Canterbury feels like coming back to an England that is proud of it's history and it's roots. Why is that? It is also a reason that so many tourists visit here and although there are obviously pros and cons to having lots of tourists around, there is a certain pride that I feel the locals possess in sharing their British culture. It is after all world renown.