Old England

I miss the country I grew up in. I had a happy childhood although things became a little difficult in my latter teens and early twenties. Even then I had no intention of living abroad but when I was given a fantastic opportunity in my late twenties to spend a little time in Hawai`i, I had no second thoughts. Who would? It was always going to be a temporary move anyway; experience life on a beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific, learn how astronomy is done at the coalface and then return two or three years later to the UK. Here I am, however, still on an a Pacific island twelve years later.

Why? I don't want to go back.

Although I still love my occasional trips back to the UK (and they are becoming rarer each passing year) I've seen my old country, a beautiful country if you know where to go, become more unpleasant each time I visit. In "The lunatics have taken over the asylum" I had a bit of a rant about the proposed ID scheme which I think is a terrible idea. That's not the main reason I don't want to go back home though - it's because the wonderful culture I grew up in is being lost at a frightening pace.

I often read "The Magistrate's Blog". I'm not entirely certain why, I've never had any interest in being a magistrate or being part of the justice system in any way, but it's a fascinating and very well-written blog that often describes how the dregs of the current UK society are dealt with in law. It was via that blog I came across an article about how the UK has changed for the worse over the years. It is biased, I'm sure, but if I was half as erudite as the author I may well have written something similar:

Theodore Dalrymple - The Quivering Upper Lip

PS. I apologise if someone steps on my foot. It's just the way I was brought up!