City Life

I once lived in Exeter for about 4 years, and rather liked it. Exeter is a rural city, and once was a maritime port (they filmed the Onedin Line close to where the Maritime Museum was, down by the river). You can hear the sound of the gulls, the countryside is close by, and Dawlish (and Dawlish Warren) is 10 minutes by train.

I tried living in Gloucester once, and gave up after about 3 months. I decided that the lack of sea was a major factor, and I returned back to Jersey.

Jersey has its build up city-like places, like St Helier (the "town"), which is a mass of buildings - shops, houses etc - not particularly pleasant to be for long periods, but being approx 9 miles by 5, it has a lot of beach and countryside for walking. As an Islander (with several generations in the local graveyard) I think it is not city / country that I would regard as the main distinction of importance for me: it is the contrast between being inland or by the sea. When I have been inland to the countryside in England, I have found the lack of sea (and sounds of sea birds, waves etc) to be what is missing; when I went to Southampton last year on holiday, I found the proximity to the sea to be deeply satisfying.

I don't visit England that often, as travel off the Island is more expensive than travel (by tourists) to the Island! I do like England, and prefer it to sundrenched package spots which don't seem to have the ancient history that Britain does. I also have a phobia about flying, and the shorter, the better!

France, either the Normandy coast (only 15 miles away) or Brittany is closer and more easily accessible, usually by ferry. My last few holidays have been on Guernsey (an even smaller island).

I know that people who come and live in the Island often enjoy it, but feel (every so often) a desperate need to "get away", or go - as they put it "back to the mainland" (by which they mean England, rather than the real mainland of France!). It is occasionally frustrating, when you read of people in England just catching a train, or driving for 2-3 hours to meet friends or go to festivals, which cannot be easily done, especially not without foreward planning. But that is something I just am used to - a necessary price to pay.