Home Sweet Home

Yes - after just a few short days away it feels good to be back. 'Home Sweet Home' it is. London and Surrey were crowded, grey, polluted, noisy, with graffiti everywhere and was full of 'buzz'. It was exciting for a while. I goggled bug eyed at all the goodies in the stores, like the country yokel I am. I smiled at every foreigner I saw in the hope that if they were a terroist they would choose not to explode while standing next to me. I bought a copy of the Big Issue at £1.50. Last time I did that it cost a £1. We don't get many Big Issue sellers in east Devon. On Saturday I drove through crowds of Christmas shoppers to get home before the threatend gales forecast for Sunday. The rain was so heavy I rarely managed more than 50 mph. I started to enjoy the drive after Stonehenge. The traffic was less dense the more I drove west. The journey took 2 hours longer than usual, 6 hours on the road. I drove through gusting winds and floods, the roads were like rivers. The biggest deepest flood to ford was on the brow of a hill! But oh the greenery and the wide open spaces. I could feel the fresh air and my eyes widened at the sight of so much 'well kept' green space. In the south east the green spaces appear ungrazed and unkempt. Scrub land. Give me farmland anytime. It's good to be back.