I also like the inherent kindness and politeness here. My husband gets smiled at wherever he goes. Just today in Tesco an old geezer grabbed his hand and shook it for no reason! (Well, he was wearing a Norwich City football top, but still...) I find complete strangers smile at me all the time, it's lovely.

I'm afraid in Africa, folk are much more self-contained and wouldn't smile at a person they didn't know. They give you one of those looks if you smile, as if you're completely bonkers. I've even had ladies suck their teeth at me.

You're right Dave, we are cosmopolitan. We have Chinese, Indian and Thai takeaways within 15 minutes drive from our village. And my husband can obtain all the weird and wonderful spices he needs for his cooking in Norwich.