.
The Best
I’ve said some pretty harsh things about England in my time, so this might be a good time to show some sort of balance in my opinions of our national life.
An English village can be a place of pure wonder on a day in the month of May. There are certain aspects of the English climate, the landscape, and the character of the people that have combined down the centuries to produce environments that are truly delightful.
Taking walks around my friends’ village this week it really struck me that there’s a visual, sensory and aesthetic richness that’s quite amazing. There’s unbelievable beauty in the buildings, their gardens, the natural flora and the way these elements combine within a relatively small place. It’s an environment that’s grown organically over the centuries, without any strategic planning as such, and it all fits snugly together in the most wonderful way.
First, there’s the stream that plunges down through the village from the moor, a stream that over the centuries has cut from the rock a steep-sided valley, in which buildings now cluster and nestle. The higher you walk, the more the sides of the valley draw together and the steeper they get, until the village abruptly ends with a single large house and its garden, right beside the stream, with immaculate lawns like the baize of a snooker table.
This property almost fills this top part of what is almost a ravine - and only a narrow track ventures around and beyond it, and makes its way further and higher, up into the woods and onto the moor.
The stream plunges over rocks and provides the musical backing track for your walk in this part of the village, splashing and gurgling its way down to the sea, about a mile away.
In this place the weather never gets so hot or so dry, or so cold, that it threatens the existence of the hundreds of plants that are to be seen here - both the native ones, like the silver birches and honeysuckles and foxgloves, and the strange and the exotic ones that the English went out and collected and brought back here from around the world.
Even on a dull day in May the colours combine in an amazing display of nature’s incredible palette. The lovely blues of the Californian lilac still abound here in May - much later than places further south and east. The yellow blossoms of the laburnum hang delicately here and there. The subtle lilacs of the wisteria, and indeed the lilacs, crop up frequently.
Trees are still in blossom everywhere. The cherry blossom season is over, but there is still white, pink and yellow blossom in abundance. The hawthorn is at its peak in May.
And then there are the shrubs. Pyrocanthus, rhodedendrons, roses of every colour, both standards and climbers, fuchias, and so much besides. Exotic shrubs I’ve never even seen before, alongside the common and garden varieties. We grow them because we can. Because we appreciate and adore their shapes, textures, colours, fragrances, beauty. This place is stunningly beautiful, not least because of the care and attention that has gone into planting and maintaining this variety of living things, down the years.
There are flowers all over the village. From the tiny ones growing wild in wall crevasses and between the rocks by the side of the stream, to clumps of irises, daisies, buttercups, etc, springing up everywhere. The daffodils and tulips are long gone, but their places have been taken by a seemingly infinite variety of others that avoid the frosts of the early Spring, but delight in these somewhat warmer days as Spring draws to an end.
There’s a proliferation of window boxes and hanging baskets, containing geraniums, pansies, violets, petunias, and a host of others.
Green! There’s a lush, fertile backdrop of every imaginable shade of green, everywhere you look. Grasses, hedges, trees, flowers, ferns, shrubs. Green - that speaks of the abundance of water, and of sunshine, but not too much heat or sun so that things dry out and turn brown or parched yellow. You can’t imagine things in this sheltered spot ever drying out. The surrounding hillsides are an unbroken mass of lush green canopies of trees in full leaf, climbing up towards the moors, clinging to their rocky purchases in the thin red soils.
Beyond the flora there’s the crafted and built elements of this environment, the products of our national imagination and creativity. The subtle and yet substantial houses and cottages that are gathered together in such neighbourly and intimate proximity. Their brick, stone, slate, wood and glass, in harmony and proportion. None of them trying to outdo their neighbours in any way that speaks of showiness or excessive pride in itself. Homes that are content to have two or three bedrooms, a cosy lounge and a kitchen. Everything that anyone needs for a good life, an equal place in the community. For here we are all equal, even if some are slightly more equal than others, as Orwell, a true English genius, would have it.
The village becomes a true community because of the buildings it shares, for all to use. And these too have their own beauty, and their own modesty. The main street of the village is where we find pubs, cafes, shops, galleries, tea rooms, guest houses and churches. All of these date from the early part of the last century, or the century before that, or even the one before that.
The best of the Victorian and Georgian architecture sets a standard that’s hard to measure up to for contemporary architects working to budgets that are either too tight, or in some cases too lavish. The English vernacular is all about substance, not show; modesty, not brashness. Its materials are for the most part local, and blend well into the landscape. They don’t try to dominate it, or stand apart from it.
The people here, like their buildings, the flora and the landscape, are calm, modest, harmonious, gentle, quiet, unassuming, warm and friendly. There’s a definite feeling that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which is as true for the people themselves as it is for the environment that’s been created over the centuries. They live for the most part in a spirit of mutual appreciation, cooperation, trust and respect. They organise art shows, charity events, concerts and cultural meetings of various descriptions. They are proud of their community and participate in the events that help to bring people together.
The pubs serve the best cask-conditioned ales, good wines and tasty food. The staff are friendly and attentive. There’s an atmosphere that speaks of lives well lived, of relaxed joie de vivre and interdependence. Here, no man or woman need feel like an island. In the winter time and early Spring log fires blaze their warmth from iron grates.
In the shops people take time to show recognition, to chat, to banter, to smile. Yesterday there was a small queue lined up at the counter of a shop, clutching their purchases - wine, beer, newspapers, magazines, various foodstuffs. “You know the saying - anticipation makes it more enjoyable”, said someone cheerily, to a customer who’d been standing in the line for a couple of minutes. “I’ve only got tampons and toothpaste”, said the customer, pensively. “Pity it’s not condoms”, said the next in line, to the great amusement of everyone within earshot.
Oh yes, our English wit and humour. There’s another priceless national asset.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Worst
I’m beginning to get very angry with politicians who claim they’ve been doing a good job for children, who like to polish their egos by saying they’ve been taking good care of young people. It brings to mind a routine by the brilliant American comic, Chris Rock. He berated parents who like to preen themselves by boasting “I take good care of my kids!” by yelling at them “That’s what you’re SUPPOSED to do, you idiots!”
This is what we need to say to politicians who boast they’ve spent millions on improving schools and opening more nurseries - “That’s what you’re supposed to do!”
To all the politicians who say they’re making sure more kids than ever are doing well academically - that’s what you’re supposed to do!
The question which then arises is, SO WHAT? What is it you’re NOT doing that you SHOULD be doing?
Do they now enjoy school more ? No.
Do they have a more positive attitude to learning? No.
Do they have more emotional intelligence? No.
Are they more creative and imaginative? No.
Do they read more widely and read more books for enjoyment? No.
Do they feel like they’re exploited and treated like pawns in somebody else’s game? Yes.
Do they resent more cramming for tests, having to take more tests and having to do more and more homework? Yes.
Do they feel more stressed and more anxious? Yes.
So what’s any of this got to do with taking better care of kids, as opposed to processing kids more efficiently through results factories? Nothing at all.
Which isn’t to say that lots of schools haven’t improved. But that improvement down to the efforts of the professionals in schools, not down to the amateurs, the career politicians.
When was the last time a politician came up with an original idea that could improve the lives of children? When was the last time a politician had a vision of something that could transform the lives of children and make them better and happier?
No, what politicians have done is convince even the educationalists that their job is to ‘prepare children for the world of work’. To convince parents that the way to judge a school is on its position in a league table. To convince teachers and head teachers that the only thing that matters is success in tests and exams. Or at least to make them fearful of the consequences if they can’t improve test scores and meet government’s arbitrary targets.
We used to be fearful of what would happen to the education system if it was governed by payment by results. Well we’ve got that, and we’ve also got a system that simply dismisses people if schools don’t meet government targets. And we’ve got an education service that’s allowed all this to happen to them.
I’m sick of it all, and it’s obvious that children are sick of it as well.
More of this tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment