Dee Ward enjoys shaking off the city and getting back to her hamlet, Yvonne Williams is mesmerised by the sea, while Rita Sammons swapped the coast for England’s capital
It’s easy, says Laura Barton, for new arrivals to cluster together (I moved to the coast for a better life – now I’m back in London where I belong, 28 December). For most of my life I have lived in rural areas and commuted to London. When I get home I shake off the city and get back to real life. This means chatting over the fence to my neighbour, with whom I have nothing in common, but he’s my neighbour. He doesn’t have regimented tulips (though he does mow his lawn three times a week), but if he did then I would admire the damned things. Then when I go for a coffee with the neighbours who are our friends, I indulge in some gentle mocking of the lawn-mowing.
Our hamlet has suddenly become popular, and we welcome our new neighbours if we ever see them on our walks – if they come out from behind the electric gates they put up. They may be just our sort of people, but we’ll never know. Our community will carry on around them, talking to each other, in real life and on social media groups, because that’s how communities work. We don’t pick and choose – we rub along together regardless.
Dee Ward
Old Romney, Kent
