nostalgic reveries

I believe there’s a word for the state of being nostalgic for a time in which you’ve never lived, but I don’t know what it is. I had an epiphany this morning and realised what it is I like about living in the UK - or Europe for that matter.

It came about as I set a giant pot of bones to simmer for stock this morning. I got the bones at the butchers near the Grafton. Every day they take all the bones from the day’s butchering and they bag them up and put them on a trolley outside the shop - free for anyone to take. I got to thinking how much better this is than the giant supermarkets who, presumably, throw out all their butchering waste, along with the unsold food. What was supposed to more efficient ends up being more wasteful. No bones for the dogs or for the poorer members of society who could make a nice soup from them (as opposed to going to McDonalds for cheap, calorie-rich, nutrient-poor meals, but that’s another story).

This is what I like about England. There are still pockets of society that have resisted the inexorable march of time - the need for efficiency and wealth over simplicity and a quiet life. What’s wrong with spending your life as a butcher or a greengrocer? You may not become a millionaire, but you might have a comfortable life and benefit your community. Is that so terrible?

It’s slipping away, of course. Britain still has the market towns, the stallholders, the walking culture, but the out of town superstores are slowing moving in and along with it, aggression and greed and two cars in every garage. It’s a shame.

Of course, this sort of lifestyle does still exist in parts of the US, I’m sure, but for a girl from California, it wasn’t going to be easy to find and if I did, inevitably it wouldn’t be accompanied by the liberal outlook that’s more common here in Europe. People have asked why towns like Santa Monica or Belmont Shore in Long Beach or Greenwich village attract the British ex-pats and I believe it’s that walking, close community culture that they gravitate to. I can see why - I would do the same now.

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