So maybe we should all be pursuing the “Escape to the Country” rural idyll.
But beware the demise of the High Street. In our little town (where I grew up – but we were then away for nearly 30 years), you can get a mainline train, to the beach or the Forest in 10 minutes, to a hospital in 15, a few still-functioning banks, an Arts Centre, a Farmers’ Market, halfways decent restaurants and pubs, all the major supermarkets, a department store, any species of coffee (shop), be bamboozled by a surfeit of estate agents, several churches, and charity (shops) by the bucketload.
However you can also get drugs if that’s your thing, mugged, knocked down on a zebra crossing or on a pavement by a mobility scooter. And there’s no longer a cinema (remember those ?), but I worked at the local palais as a projectionist when I was teenager.
