If 1st March, the first day of spring, is my favourite day of the year (apart from the day we go on holiday), then the night the country inexplicably puts the clocks back is arguably my least favourite day of the year. It’s going to be dark for much of the next four months and I am not impressed. But despite the mess our divided country is in because of you-know-what, I would still rather be in England than anywhere else.
My loyal reader will know that I am not normally someone who looks on the bright side of everything. And as someone who prefers the warmth to the cold and the sun to the darkness, you might expect me to want to be somewhere else. Not so.
I have loved our two main holidays this year in Skiathos and Portugal. Granted Bristol was warmer than Greece for that one week (and more weeks thereafter, if the truth be known), but Portugal was much warmer. The food was good  abroad but of course Bristol has more in depth quality than a holiday resort. That’s just the way it is. And my family and friends are here.
Last weekend, we went to Yorkshire with two of my favourite people on the planet. Granted, good times are usually more about the people than the places but the combination of wonderful people in wonderful places was unbeatable. During this week, I have met up with and bumped into friends. For all the joy of being away from it all, home for me is much more than concrete: it’s about people. Without people, my life is nothing.
Tomorrow, my beloved partner and I are going into town to eat in somewhere nice, to drink in numerous nice places, to visit the type of (record and book) shops I like visiting and I am sure we will bump into someone we know. We’re minutes away from everyone and everything.
We are fabulously lucky to live in Bristol. Lacking little, apart from a large arena and decent public transport, our city has pretty well everything else. Apart from Rotterdam – and that’s more to do with family and history than anything else – I would not want to live anywhere else. Most of the people I love and care about live in Bristol and the ones who don’t live in Bristol are but a short drive away.
I love being in Bristol and England because of so many things, apart from family and friends. Fopp, Sainsburys, pubs, lovely eateries, the Guardian, cheese, access to book shops and record shops, Amazon Prime, being able to watch football and rugby league ‘live’, driving on the correct side of the road, being able to fly to so many different places all year round, Marmite, fresh milk, Walkers Crisps, Fatface, Crumpets, the Naval Volunteer, the Cornubia, not Ashton Gate, Rough Trade, Thatchers Cider, pasties, Casa Mexicana, Atomic Burger, Christ knows how many golf courses, Clifton Downs, the Morrisons home shopping, pork scratchings, HP sauce, fresh coffee, fish and chip shops and did I mention virtually all my family and friends?
Winter bad, summer good? Yeah, maybe. But I am with the people I love pretty well all year round. I’ll just have to live though the dark and the cold for the next four months. I suppose it will make me appreciate next year’s occasional weeks of sunshine even more!
