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The Natural Philosopher[_2_]

wrote:
On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:25:17 +0000, Bill Wright
wrote:

And about 75% of the people who live in the countryside are city
dwellers
Could you give me the source for this figure?

I can't give a figure, but passing through many villages in England
illustrated to me the figure is quite high. A helluva high percentage
of villages have been gutted of their local shops and amenities as
incomers tend to bulk-buy in the nearest town. Of course the other
segment, the weekenders are a curse in many ways, not least for the
way they priced housing out of the reach of locals.

People move. People always have moved.

I lived for many years on a Fen outside Cambridge. The last man who
could say 'I was born here' told me that once it had had over 500
people, three pubs and two churches 'and one o' them I accidentally set
fire to in the 20's'.

When I was there, it had no more than 25 people living on it.
Everything else had vanished - though there were a few bramble covered
derelict houses and collapsed heaps of tiles to be found everywhere.
They all wanted to live in the village where water,electricity, roads
and drainage existed.

I would expect that its the new housing estate these days..

Most of the people who are in towns today were country dwellers years
ago, or their ancestors were.

I dont have an objection to having a debate about best use of land and
so on but what I don't want its to see what happened in Surrey - where I
hail from - happen elsewhere. In short utter and total suburbanisation
and Londonisation of tracts of land.

With people moving in to whom the land has no meaning or interest beyond
a place to park their new hutches and park their cars.

The last time I wandered over 'my' part of the North downs on FOOT I met
LESS people than 45 years ago when I was a boy. More than 200 yards away
from the road, there is nothing except the hum of the M25..

And thereby hangs my point. Suburban people don't want to live in the
country: they come to me and say 'gosh, isn't it dangerous with no speed
limit? Shouldn't there be street lights and traffic humps? Don't you
feel isolated and lonely? Fancy having no gas and your own sewage works!
How quaint! Golly that dog has big teeth, is it dangerous?'

Why spread this dross thinly through the countryside, they are town
bumpkins and that's where they belong.

People who want to live town life should sat in the towns and go high
rise or whatever. Suburbia should never have been invented. Its always
been vile. Little boxes and postage stamp gardens for no purpose, and
no use, and cars cars cars.

And frankly there are far too many people on this island already.