My eternal dilemma, as if you didn't know, involves the concept of home. I have a love-hate relationship with it. The county of Somerset, and more specifically the area around Taunton (to be pronounced as one syllable), is one of the best and worse places in the world to live.
The best things first: the photo opposite is the view from the back of my house, and is fairly typical of the landscape in November. Driving around at this time of year, one can't help thinking, "why would I want to live anywhere else?".
The downside, however, is that the beautiful, open landscape is a result of the fact that this is a primarily agrarian economy. There are few professional jobs, and hence few professional people. The predominant binge-drinking culture (not by any means a modern phenomena, despite what the press would have us believe) is an obvious result of the boredom and frustration with the limitations of rural/smalltown life. The fact that Elton John is to play Taunton made front page news this week. 'Nuff said.
That argument can, however, be somewhat negated by the argument that one should make one's own fun. So many aspects of modern culture are transmitted via television and the internet (which is no different here to anywhere else).
[We also have running water, electricity in our homes, and some lucky people even own their own car, or horseless carriage as they're generally know. But I digress].
London is only 2 hours away by train (or about 6 by car by the time you've got into the damn city), and Bristol is closer. Bristol airport is only 30 minutes, from where one can fly to anywhere in Europe. So it's not all bad.
The killer, though, is that professional options are limited. As a professional accountant, I earn (and stand to earn in future) around half the salary of an equivalent position in London. There are few opportunities, and little diversity. I am facing the scandal that, when I qualify as a Chartered Accountant in (hopefully) just over a year's time, I won't actually be able to afford to buy the smallest flat on the market. Plus, the fact is that in order to get the most out of my career, I will almost certainly have to move to a big city.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against cities or city-dwellers. There are a lot more opportunities to meet new people and to experience "culture" than there are out here, on top of the career implications already discussed. What troubles me is that, much as I would probably be happy living in Bristol or London, neither is really home. There's a sense of community here which is peculiar to English-speaking rural areas - the sense of obligation to help your neighbour, whether you like or even know him.
In the next year I'm going to have to face up to this choice: career or community. Where my career and my life will take me I don't know. As my grandfather would have said, "You got yourself a pig in a poke". Which is as true today as it ever was.
