Sunday morning somewhere in England
Sunday, March 21, 2010 
Spent the morning watching my son play rugby near Stansted Airport. We could see the planes coming in but thanks to the flight path - and the "enthusiastic" parents on the adjoining pitch - I could barely hear them.
Most Sundays in winter you'll find me standing in a muddy field, buffeted by the wind, woolly hat and overcoat offering very little protection from the horizontal rain or the perishing cold.
Today's game, against Saffron Walden, was played in a village called Henham (above and below). It took us an hour to drive there but it was worth it. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to shed both the overcoat and the woolly hat. Spring has arrived, I think. (Cue snow and ice at Easter.)
Henham was picturesque but that, in itself, wasn't a surprise. Like much of England, this area is awash with beautiful villages. Today, though, we tend to miss many of them because we are far too busy, hurtling past on motorways, dual-carriageways or busy A-roads, to take much notice.
When was the last time you went for a "Sunday drive"? It seems hard to believe, but when I was young my parents really did bundle us into the car for a "drive in the country". No seatbelts in those days, of course. When we were very small my sister and I used to stand up and hold on to the front seats for a better view.
At this point I was going to make a tenuous link between this and an article by Bill Bryson in The Times yesterday. On reflection it doesn't make much sense (the link not the article), but if you're interested you can read the article HERE.
Born and bred in America (and author of one of my favourite books, Notes from a Small Island), Bryson currently lives in Norfolk. He would like Henham, I'm sure.
And the rugby wasn't bad, either. Stags won. (Sorry, that really was a tenuous link.)
Reader Comments (2)
I thought you were going to write about the impact of the proposed second runway. Would Henham survive if they went ahead?
Interesting thought, David. To be honest, when I began writing the post I wasn't focussed on any distinct issue. It happens sometimes. You have a photograph that you're desperate to use to break up the tedium of one smoking-related post after another and you need a few words to accompany it.
Now you mention it, though, the proposed extension of Stansted would have a major impact on the surrounding countryside.
Havign said that, in a NIMBY fit a few years ago, I was very happy at the prospect of a new runway being built at Stansted because one of the alternatives was to build a new airport on an old RAF base close to where I live in Cambridgeshire and I wasn't too keen on that!