Hullo!
I have an awful habit of rushing things through at the last minute, as I am with this, so I’ll keep it brief.
I live in Norwich, England, which is popular with overseas tourists who see it as a vibrant market town/city in rural England with lots of Norman and medieval ruins and architecture, usually built by various waves of immigrants.
My own family I think came over with Duke William of Normandy in 1066, and like the Romans before them (who called the British ‘The barbarians across the ocean’) tried to civilise us.
The Dutch drained our marshland and turned much of it into farmland or woods.
And the French Hugenots also had a presence, facilitating trade.
So on the face of it, especially with recent waves of refugee and economic migrant immigration, Norwich should be very diverse.
But it has a dark side. It is blighted by crack cocaine addiction and rising homelessness and poor mental health services.
And people are sometimes openly racist or sexist in the street towards recent immigrants.
I’m from the 1970s myself, so I know I’m not perfect. But I try to support recent migrants by quietly buying from their businesses and chatting to them about the weather, rather than asking where or why they’re from and stirring up traumatic memories or stories they’d rather keep private.
Really, I’m a semi pro classical pianist and charity administrator and regional database trainer.
But I’m currently out of work following a restructure at my last charity.
So being a Local Guide helps allow me to still contribute something, however small, and also helps me see my city with fresh eyes, as an outsider would. Although COVID-19 has rather put that on hold.
Thank you for reading. I do tend to bang on!
Take care,
Cliff
who ever knew there was a time they were referred to as that?