Monday 29 August 2011

The UK is Fucking Big.


Where I come from, my entire universe, everything that mattered was contained in one nine miles long by five miles wide island. It takes fifteen minutes to get everywhere. Everybody knows everyone. Jersey is so small that it doesn’t even show on a world map. Now I move to the Mainland and I’m struggling to get to grips with the enormity of the place. In forty eight hours I drove almost nine hundred miles last week. Nine. Hundred. Miles. That’s like, St. Ouens to Gorey a hundred times!!!

Home.


Maybe it’s not just the size of England and Wales, overt advertising is still rare in Jersey, for me it’s a strange sight to see a taxi with a corporate logo or bright pictures stuck to its doors. There are no roadside signs trying to tell you which car you should buy and the busses are just plain blue. I go out to any large town in Wales or England and my senses are assaulted by giant illuminated signs, billboards, stickers on bins, flyers… Almost everywhere I turn everyone’s trying to shove an advert down my neck. 

Everyone seems to know what they’re doing, where they’re going and they’re getting places as fast as they possibly can… Jersey seems so tranquil compared to the mad world I have moved to. 

   I took this one just before I left Jersey.


Having said that, I think I’m getting used to this place, I managed to go all the way to London and through the half closed down Underground the other week all on my own! I still feel very much like a small town girl in a very, very big world sometimes though.

I have been unbelievably busy for the last few weeks. In the two months I’ve been here I have been to London twice, Crawley, Brighton, Okehampton three times, Bristol thrice, Cardiff many times, Manchester, Wakefield twice and a few more that I’ve forgotten. Everywhere I’ve been there has been parties, clubs, hugs, cups of tea and a few tears. Every journey I take is one of epic proportions for me, both geographically and emotionally. 

2 comments:

  1. Did you feel like Captain America when he wakes up in the 21st Century? Hehe.

    Glad you're getting used to the mainland - at least in Brighton you have the sea and the countryside close by, if you ever feel like a walk or a paddle. :)

    I lived in London for seven years, myself - still stride out into traffic the way people do up there, when crossing the road. Living in the city makes you really blinkered to anything going on around you, I think.

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  2. I know what you mean, I live in a small village in Essex, which although isn't that far from London, it's quite small and peaceful. I had to go to London on Monday to Charring Cross Gender clinic and I was shocked by how busy and fast moving london was, I hadn't been for 10 years before Monday and I was surprised at how intimidating I found it.

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