Just before lunch I posted a new thread in the Pensioners issues section called time management, a light hearted look at how time slips away from us with increasing speed as we age. Sitting down after a full roast dinner I decided to indulge in a little wander through You Tube items that caught my eye. One of my favourites is History Debunked where I find a like-minded guy of approaching my age holding forth on the 'true' facts behind historical events; although I may not agree with his view of truth, he is always an interesting view.
Today he was speaking of his youth visiting Epping Forest and how it has changed with foreign gangs fly tipping and stripping the forest of its famous fungi. I have to admit that my experience has been much the same. When we were small our dad used to take us kids rambling in the nearby pristine woodland whilst mum prepared the Sunday dinner. At the right time of year, the bounty of nature opened up before us in her seasons. Snowdrops, Primrose, Bluebells and even Cobnuts, all in procession. Some flowers we would pick as a small bouquet before hurrying home as most would begin to wilt before we could get them into her appreciative hands. We were only allowed to pick a few, just enough to make a posy to leave enough for others and to not spoil nature. The same went for my teenage years when with my companions I would roam the fields and lanes following the countryside code as it has become know, closing gates, taking only windfalls, respecting animals.
It was this 'take what you need and no more' that has totally disappeared. We are just too crowded now I guess. But now we see wholesale stripping of resources, whether needed or not, sometimes to try and sell. No country path is free of fouling or dumping, mostly by outsiders who have no idea of the English way. I had a friend who would put a box of apples from his garden to take for free, I have taken one myself occasionally, but the box graces his doorstep no more because, in his own words "First one along takes the whole bloody box!" In another instance we lived near a popular fishing river until the local Eastern European influx denuded the whole stream of fish by netting at night and had even been known to poach Swans from a local lake. Even that is now small beer as they are stealing whole flocks of Sheep.
I am not stupid, I may long for my England from a bygone age, but I know that my memories are from an age of the Spitfire and I live in the age of the Tempest. Transatlantic culture, the internet, mobile phones and many other things have severed me from my roots, but I am certain that the gap would not have been so great if foreign influences and attitudes had not been allowed to take root and swamp our own way of life.
Mike.X
