by Vicky Halliday
Yesterday, I happened upon Soberton Village Fete. It was an accident but not necessarily an unhappy one.
As a city dweller, I was fascinated by the idea that village fetes were still in existence. Usually the Women’s Institute and the Church have been beavering away for the past 12 months, baking cakes and prepping flower displays and the local scout troupe have been fundraising for months. It is like stepping back in time, any second now Matt Lucas and David Walliams will come striding across the field (in drag, probably) Every villager had some involvement, whether through volunteering or providing a prize or service.
Soberton is in Hampshire (over the back of Portsdown Hill, yes, there is life in them there fields) There are cows and plenty of Jack Russells and the lady vicar is busily “working the crowd” – think Vicar of Dibley but without having grazed on the homemade cake stall. There is not a single ethnic minority to be seen and there seem to be no gays in this village. Instead, you have happy families roaming the field with armfuls of tomato plants and cuddly toys. Florida codes bank Could we, perhaps, learn something from these people? Obviously, not the idea of multiculturalism but something else. Zithromax pharmacy
Where I’m from (Portsmouth) the idea of a happy family is one where Buy Viagra Online Pharmacy the Mum doesn’t have a criminal record and the Dad is still talking to them. Buy antibiotics online without prescription. Online Drugstore. Some family Buy Plavix Online units may have six sets of step and half siblings and the Family Tree becomes so complicated as to warrant an entire forest. If you see a child at the weekend they are usually in McDonalds, accompanied by one parent (the other being at home with their new boyfriend, playing Wii Sports) Smiling is also an alien concept, the best you can achieve these days Levitra reviews is a partial grimace.
I was chatting to the man who ran the “Splat the Rat” stall. Rural rats spend their days in barns, nibbling on ears of corn. Urban rats will have your hubcabs off in 60 seconds and will have your iPod before you’ve noticed it’s gone. It is scary to th ink that even the verm Levitra generico in behaves differently in the country.
Credit where it is due, the cities make an effort: picnics; the bandstand; family fun days; etc but beyond the boundary of the park is tower blocks, traffic jams and marauding chavs. Are we city-dwellers attempting Buy cozaar to polish a turd or m buy drugs online ake the best of a bad situation Vardenafilo levitra ? I don’t deny, it was refreshing to look up and see clear skies and songbirds (rather than rabid-looking pigeons, after their next cheesy chips fix) There was a stream, rather than a gutter. A farmer, rather than a Police Community Support Officer and here, buy phentermine they think ASBO is a type of real ale!
But nothing prepared me for the Prize Draw. Lucky winners could receive a £50 servicing voucher for their garden equipment, 14 eggs, a cleaner for 6 weeks, a six pack of real ale or pot pourri. There were so many prizes that virtually every villager went home with Cheap Levitra onlinesome token or another. In this village, there were no losers!
So, what can we learn from village life? It is admirable that the community pulls together, there were no tears from the children and I saw no litter. Perhaps if there was a better sense of community, Portsmouth would smile more. Oh, we have the beach and we have shops but we have miserable people. Is it a council issue, do we need better f Order Doxycyclineacilities or should people be grateful for what they have already? Use the art galleries, the museums, the parks. Return to family life of yesteryear in order to forge a better future?
The people of Soberton do not have the luxury of a 24 hour Tesco, a kebab shop on every corner. But, these are the people who say hello to strangers and laugh at the suggestion that Little Britain was written about them. The only character Portsmouth can relate to is Vicky Pollard, which is nothing to be proud of! But, there is hope. We can build on the hard work of the Hilsea Lido and Bandstand organisers, we can take advantage of what this city has to offer and, if we really try, we can raise a smile occasionally – even a little one 
I find quite a few of your statements a bit too, hmmm, tabloid-like, as nothing is really that simple. You saw “happy families” but you saw them on a special occasion, not in their everyday lives. Not to mention that the majority of the population in such villages is wealthier than the average Portsmouth citizen.
Still, I completely agree that community life makes people happier. Everything that makes people go out not to get smashed but to mingle with others is good. Can you imagine the kids Soberton not being allowed to go out and play but instead kept home by concerned parents and anti-social behaviour legislations?