If you've not been, I thoroughly recommend it - Bury St Edmunds is a lovely little town, lots of small cobbled streets, independent traders, an astounding cathedral with lovely grounds, and the Christmas Market itself was huge. It bills itself as the biggest in the UK, and that's not a vain boast.
We had a great time wandering around sampling the various cheeses, liqueurs, preserves and other local produce, and despite having all my presents bought already, I couldn't resist buying a few more (ok, a LOT more!). When we'd done the main market and needed a rest, we had some lovely tea at the quirky little Edmundo Lounge, just off the main area and refreshingly free of Christmas Market shoppers.
Making our way back to the main market from there down the little cobbled side streets to pick up some things we'd noted down but wanted to get last so as not to carry them around all day, we were met with this jarring reality of Christmas in modern Britain:
Yes. They are exactly what they look like - anti-Muslim terrorism barriers. I wouldn't say the sight of them spoiled the day, we still had a lovely time.
But even so...is this what we can now expect every Christmas, even in the smallest, most quintessentially English town? How very sad.
And how very avoidable...
Our church went there a few years ago. I loved the place and didn't want to come home! The Christmas Market was brilliant, the usual vegetable market looked sensational, there were Morris dancers in blackface (which made my day) and even teenagers in shops were friendly and polite, quite a refreshing change from the resentful teeth-sucking sullenness I was so used to in Birmingham. Sad to see that even this lovely place is now forced to celebrate diversity in the usual way.
ReplyDeleteIt was once unavoidable, sadly it’s now inevitable and increasingly so.
ReplyDeleteI actually saw you tweet a link to this on Twitter and, funnily enough, your tweet was below another tweet mentioning an academic study saying white Britons will be a minority in the UK before 2070, 2066 was the year given by one report on the study. So in my lifetime we will have gone from school photos showing just white British children to a country where we will be in a minority in what was once a white country. Enriching indeed.
"...And how very avoidable..."
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not, when most of our overseers are Common Purpose graduates or sympathisers.
They're known as "Merkel lego" here. Well, where I usually am.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't a string of pork sausages be just as effective?
ReplyDeleteBiG - Merkel Lego is a great name, I also like 'Diversity Bollards' as they have been termed in Melbourne.
ReplyDelete"...quite a refreshing change from the resentful teeth-sucking sullenness I was so used to in Birmingham."
ReplyDeleteYes! Everyone seemed to enjoy being there, and not simply because they wanted to sell something...
"So in my lifetime we will have gone from school photos showing just white British children to a country where we will be in a minority in what was once a white country. Enriching indeed."
Are we better for it? Well, we have a lot more variety in our diet, I suppose...
"They're known as "Merkel lego" here. Well, where I usually am."
That's inspired, and horrifying, at the same time.