"Oh, don't you remember, lizzie? There was that endless post about village greens, church bells and spitfires flying overhead, etc etc, which I questioned as both a chocolate-box fantasy and as not really being representative of England for all the millions of people living in urban areas. You then explained that I had to have "England running through every part of me" to understand what you were on about - the implication being that I couldn't possibly understand "your" England because I was not born here.

Of course, so many of your posts have been banned and taken down from various websites that such evidence might be hard to locate..."


Triple sigh......

So *that's* what this is all about.


Spitfires flying overhead? I'm too young to remember Spitfires...(Yay, I'm still too young for something!) :0)

I mentioned Lancasters, once, as that was in Mike Harding's beautiful song 'Bomber's Moon' about his father, who was a navigator in one during the war. Spitfires? Well, one of the doctors I worked for was restoring a Spitfire with some mates of his. He used to fly them too, when he was in the RAF Aerobatic team, way back when, his name was Dr. Roworth Spurrell, used to work at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, you can check him out, but he'll have retired many moons ago now.

Village greens and church bells. You bet. I remember them, and they're still here, and still very much a part of England, as is cricket being played on the green, whether you like it or not, it still takes place, and there's nothing wrong with it either. And I love it when you go past on the train and see cricket on the village greens, just love it.

Does that make me racist? Of course it doesn't, don't be so silly.   

I can only tell you about my childhood memories. I grew up in Pinner, and back then, it was far more rural than it is today. I have no memories of city life, just as city folk have no memory of my life. But their memories, and mine, mingle together to become what England was back then, and still is, in many parts today. Cricket is still played at The Oval, I believe, in the middle of London.

However, time has moved on, and now my country has people of many colours, races and backgrounds in, and it's their country too. Do I have a problem with that? Nope.

I don't live in an inner city, and I never have. I don't much like city life, too many people, not enough space. Others thrive on it, others have no choice, just as some have no choice but to live in the country. It's not a them and us situation, it's just where people are born and raised, what feels like 'home' to them.

This chocolate box fantasy exists, I'm afraid. It exists in the very place that you adore coming to every single year, Sidmouth, and in many other towns and villages around England. That does not make ALL the people who live in small towns or villages in England, racist.

Geez, I've never heard such a load of old rubbish in my life.

Chocolate box England exists, alongside Victorian Slum England, as it does in every country in the world. There are parts of Cardiff, that I used to know as a child, where the policemen hated walking, down on the docks there, in Tiger Bay, where life was tough and rough and damned hard for many people....My grandfather ran his Ship's Chandlers business in Bute Street and later on the Docks itself, and now the Millenium Hall stands right on top of where Grandpa used to work, as the Docks has become a playground for the rich now, and a charming place to sit and drink your lattes.

Does that make all those people in Cardiff racist, because they've wiped out a landscape and probably there are now many who don't even recall how tough it once was? Of course not!

Holy Jumping Catfish, Joan, get a grip for Gawd's sake.

"You then explained that I had to have "England running through every part of me" to understand what you were on about - the implication being that I couldn't possibly understand "your" England because I was not born here."

And you didn't understand my England, and you still don't, just as I will never understand your America, the America where you grew up, because I did not live your life. I have no understanding of your memories, because they are not my memories. I have no knowledge of what parts of your past mean to you, what was important, what evokes good, or bad memories. I do not have America running through me, because I was born in England. Accident of birth, nothing more.

The implication is what you have chosen to see implicated...and as you seem to see nothing but venom in all that I write, it doesn't surprise me.

"Of course, so many of your posts have been banned and taken down from various websites that such evidence might be hard to locate..."

Various websites is just this one and the BBC, so let's not spin that. Every single post of mine, on Longdogs, was taken off....by me, no one else. And please remember that many of your posts to me were also removed by the BBC. There are two sides to this.

For your information, a while back, on the Albion Heart myspace page, I was asked to remove the English flag and replace it with a picture of a church, as the person concerned was very worried about the flag, seeing it as being linked to the BNP. I explained, over a period of many messages back and forth, that a church is far move divisive and excluding to many people in England these days, but the flag belonged to us all, and it was way past time to take that flag back from the BNP scum who have made it stand for such bad things these past years.

"It's my flag too and I want it back", as Steve Knightley sang in 'Roots'.

I will always respond to lies, Ruth. And I will always tell the truth about those lies.

I met Sir Douglas Bader, get over it.
I worked for Harley St. Surgeons, get over it.
I love village greens and cricket being played, get over it.
I love samba bands, get over it.
I love people with beautiful dark skin and wide beautiful smiles, get over it.
I love mosques and the people of the Middle East with whom I worked for years, get over it.
I love curry, get over it.
I never lived in an inner city, not my fault, get over it.


I am NOT racist, get over it.

You have NEVER understood me, get over it.

And now, back to English Culture of every colour, sound, sight and smell..with apologies for any mistakes in this long missive, but I'm too darn tired to check it through.

In short Ruth, leave the personal attacks out of this board, for Gawd's sake, and just...get....over...it.