Home Town

In another year I will have lived away from Chester longer than I lived in it. At which point, I guess I should stop referring to it as my home (as in place of birth) town and start calling Kendal my home (as in where I’ve lived most of my life) town.
Not that I’ll lose any sleep over that. Friends tell me that they love Chester, though this is usually based on a short visit to the city to watch the races or do some shopping and see the Roman remains. But if you live in - rather than visit - the city, even for only the three or four days each month that we are down here, I would contend that the picture is not quite as rosy. There are empty shops, beggars in doorways and - to my eyes - a general air of neglect. And everything seems a lot more geared towards the needs of students rather than the permanent residents since the teacher training college of my youth grew into the large university of today.
Maybe I’m being unfair. Perhaps I’m looking back through rose tinted glasses on how the city was when I left thirty years ago and only remembering the good bits. But the city has definitely changed. Whether or not that change is for the better probably depends on whether you view it from the standpoint of a modern day student at the University or as a grumpy old man who believes things were better “back in the day”!