NJC Rediscovering your own country

[Chris Marshall]

Complete off-topic this, but I thought I'd share just this
brief experience, and photos, with you all.

I've been visiting a friend of mine on the UK south coast
of the UK a few times of late, usually spending a couple of
nights down there to make a nice little weekend away now
and again. (Hence the gluten-free question in another
thread...)

Said friend's work commitments usually mean that I've got the
daytime to myself at some point, so hence I'm forced to get
out and "do stuff", rather than just lounging around. So
I've been taking the opportunities to go and look at various
interesting places in the vicinity.

Yesterday, I took myself off to Bodiam Castle, and found
the whole thing a really useful experience, despite only
being there for half an hour (the castle itself was shut,
so I couldn't get inside). The point is this: I've found
it easy to get very disenchanted with one's own country,
to get blinded by politics, people (of the stupid, en-masse
kind), dreadful transport infrastructure, and so on. Getting
out there, seeing new places, and realising how much this
country has to offer in terms of history and places to explore
has been a really cool experience - a reminder that there's
so much to be grateful for, so much stuff on the doorstep
that's completely fascinating. I now find myself staring
at the map, lining up a plan of exploration for the next
trip. (Hastings Castle and Battle Abbey next - nipping
back in time almost a thousand years - 1066 and all that.)

As an aside, I took some pictures of the castle, and a couple
of the surrounding countryside, which are up on my gallery web
site, found here:-

http://www.hatstand.org/gallery/ view_album.php?set_albumName=album22&page=1

(Alternatively, if the link gets mashed, go to
http://www.hatstand.org/gallery and navigate through people
and places, then to Bodiam Castle)

So, to finish, a question. What's refreshed your enthusiasm
for your own country, when you've been through a period of
being down on the place. I don't mean a can-do attitude,
politics, people, cities, or stuff like that, rather, its
history, geography, vistas, and so on. I'll be taking notes
for places to visit :-)

--Chris Marshall

chrisAThatstand.org (AIM: Chr15Marshall)

"A dream that you tell no one but the grey sea"