The England/Wales Divide
Created | Updated Sep 21, 2005
I travel between Wales and England on a regular basis, and from my travels between the two countries, I have noticed a very significant difference between them. Typically, I leave the house in Sussex, with the sun bathing me with its warming light. My journey then proceedes up the M23 and on to the M25, where this warmth only seems to intensify.
After several hours of beating my way through the normal flow of traffic on the London Orbital, I glide gently along the M4, with yet more pleasant weather as my companion, past Reading, Swindon, and eventually Bristol, until, a slight haze brushes past the sun, yet it still blesses me with it's loving gaze.
Then, however, I cross the Severn Bridge. As if a great power summons it away, the sun disappears from the sky, and the clouds enshroud me with gloom. A steady drumming of waterfall rain cascades upon my windscreen, and the certain truth settles in. I have arrived in Wales. The land that spawned myself and my family, how you curse me now, I left my brolly 200 miles away, in the glorious sunshine of my new home in the weald, believing that just maybe, the sunshine would last.
After several hours of beating my way through the normal flow of traffic on the London Orbital, I glide gently along the M4, with yet more pleasant weather as my companion, past Reading, Swindon, and eventually Bristol, until, a slight haze brushes past the sun, yet it still blesses me with it's loving gaze.
Then, however, I cross the Severn Bridge. As if a great power summons it away, the sun disappears from the sky, and the clouds enshroud me with gloom. A steady drumming of waterfall rain cascades upon my windscreen, and the certain truth settles in. I have arrived in Wales. The land that spawned myself and my family, how you curse me now, I left my brolly 200 miles away, in the glorious sunshine of my new home in the weald, believing that just maybe, the sunshine would last.
