East Grinstead's problem is that it is neither fish nor fowl. It lacks the excitement and cultural activity of London, but it is also too suburban for anyone to enjoy the delights of a traditional, rural community. Like many small towns in England, the place only really comes to life on a Friday night, when the local kids get drunk and beat the crap out of each other. Happy days.
I felt sorry for him, but then his story became even more tragic. To add insult to injury, he discovered that he couldn't afford to live in East Grinstead and had to move to a suburb called Felbridge. It was hard to imagine a place as small as East Grinstead having a suburb and it reminded me of an asteroid that was discovered around ten years ago. No asteroids are exciting and this one was smaller and duller than most, but it aroused the interest of scientists because it had caught a small lump of rock in its tiny gravitational field and this boulder was now the asteroid's moon, faithfully orbiting it at regular intervals. Here's a NASA photo:

I worked in East Grinstead for a few months and I have to confess that I was quite happy there. The town was bland, but far less offensive than many places in England. It is a sad fact that most English towns and cities have been ruined by the unholy alliance of the Luftwaffe and 1960s town planners, producing town centres like this:


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