I’ve occasionally lived in other parts of England and I’ve also spent long periods of time in foreign countries, however I’ve always retained some kind of permanent address in Southend-on-Sea, which is the town of my birth.
The fact that the town sits at the mouth of the Thames estuary, making it a seaside resort, distinguishes Southend from the other more generic settlements in the Southeast of England, whose main purpose is to provide housing for commuters travelling into London to work.
Away from the seafront, which is really quite tawdry and run down, the High Street contains the same chain stores you’ll find with crushing predictability in every English town. I would say that the leisure and arts scene is underdeveloped. It’s very rare for name bands to play here as there isn’t really a decent venue for them to perform in. I normally travel up to London if I want to buy anything, see a movie or catch some live music. The capital is only an hour away on the train. I think that things may improve once the new University opens, and the influx of students brings in fresh investment to cater for their needs.
What I object to most about living in Southend, and by extension England, is our culture which is fixated with personal material gain, to the point where the wellbeing of people becomes of secondary importance. This a hallmark of many societies, but in England it reached a particularly vulgar point where it seems people can’t even be bothered to look beyond their own interests and have become increasingly rude, unpleasant and intolerant.
I can’t see myself staying here because the cost of property in this area is very high. I’ll never be able to afford to buy a house in this part of England and it’s highly likely that I will live my whole life in a succession of rented properties. The only roots that I have in Southend are my memories. All my close friends have gone. I do not have strong ties with my remaining family and it’s become something of a priority to get out of their shadow. My minimal prospects for the future mean that it doesn’t matter where I live and I don’t really care anymore, although if I hit rock bottom I’ll move up to London where there are more opportunities.
Recently on Dave’s boards a few of us sent each other postcards of our home towns. I know the names of the places where my close online friends live, but previously I had no idea what their hometowns looked like, what it’s like to live there or even whereabouts they’re located on a map.
