My Suffolk People

“We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.” Jo Cox

It’s been a little while since my last post. I was waiting to write with wonderful news, THE news that we had moved, made progress at least, received some good news from our estate agent that the Deed of Variation has been signed and submitted to Land Registry. Alas, I do not write with THAT news. Let us remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day! (Breathe...)

What we have received however is an incoherent trail of emails from various estate agents and solicitors representing various purchasers, arguing amongst themselves over who takes responsibility for signing and submitting various documents. Two professionals within the chain have even asked for clarity as to whether we are completing ‘this week.’ This week being just another week that we are all no further forward, still living in our own homes and tearing out our own hair. Walking our dogs in our local parks and sharing stories of leasehold solar panels with the locals. None of whom seem to be aware that it’s even a ‘thing.’ Every one of whom has been courteously and genuinely horrified by the realisation that accepting government subsidised solar panels means foregoing ownership of your rooftop and therein the ability to sell your home. Yes, it is a sneaky, poisonous little bastard.

The leasehold solar panel scheme that is.

However. Life is a process of profound realisation and discovery and I have been realising and discovering that there are many people in my neighbourhood that are entirely lovely, warm, friendly and ready to laugh and chat, who I have never met or spoken to in all the years I have lived in Suffolk. Being London commuter territory with a large immigrant population, high unemployment, social housing and marked divides between rich and poor, the Suffolk town we live in endures the same entrenched issues with crime and public displays of selfishness and irritability evident across the country. Only this week my 13-year-old son was assaulted in a sweet shop, entirely unprovoked and at random (whilst standing next to me) by a grown man. Alongside the history and beauty of Suffolk, which by the way are abundant, it would be possible to lose your way if not reminded on a regular basis, as I have been of late, just how incredibly wonderful so many of its people are.

With an indiscreet agenda to promote the blog and love of sharing our tales of adventures in Cumbria (which luck would have it, fellow dog walkers are always mad about listening to) I seem to have spent a lot of time in conversation recently. Coupled with the fact I am no longer working a million hours a week (this is a grotesque exaggeration, but the job from which I handed in my notice didn’t feel far off it) and I find being outside massively cathartic; the middle of a field come rain or shine, is often where I can be found. With the dogs I might add, for context.

The people I have crossed paths with during these times have been nothing short of joyful. Old, young, those from all walks of life with dogs from every conceivable lineage. When you are giving of yourself, people are not only receptive, but also generous and forthcoming equally. We have shared stories, political thoughts and reflections, memories, dreams, ambitions, personal resources (dog poo bags, doggy snacks, towels and the like) and people I have bumped into on more than one occasion have introduced me to their friends as if I were their friend of old. I have rediscovered the place I live and given myself the opportunity and the permission to be grateful for my community, in the truest and purest sense of the word. To find that there is community and that I exist within it has been like listening to your favourite song for the first time. Or watching Pulp Fiction and wondering if there was ever a time when $5 for a milkshake was unimaginably expensive.

It is so incredibly easy to dissociate from a fractured and fragmented society and begin to see only its problems. For all the complexities and brokenness of what I observe daily, I have seen so much warmth and humanity in recent weeks as micro-communities have gathered and shared spontaneously in parks and fields. And then they call back to me when we part company “Dream It, Do It? I’ll have a read!”

Shameless, I know.