Friday 24th January 2025 - Not a Playground and Nobody Spoke

We watched a couple of interesting TV programmes during the week Although they weren’t directly related to Overstrand, they were indirectly, as well as other small conurbations.

The presenter in the first of these programmes told viewers, the majority of the British population live in towns and cities and when they visit the countryside, as tourists, these people see it as their playground.  The presenter acknowledged that the countryside is not a playground.  This reminded me of a conversation we had with a visitor a few weeks ago.  They asked whether Overstrand had been busy during 2024, to which we replied; it was quieter here last summer and we wondered if people were going abroad, taking advantage of reliable weather and all-inclusive packages.  They came from the lake district and said their summer had been horrendous with visitors camping and leaving everything behind, including their tents!  This resulted in huge clean-ups for the local residents.  Having not experienced anything on this scale in Overstrand, we really felt for them; this has to be an example of tourism at its worst.  How do you get across to tourists; the countryside is not a playground and even if it was, you don’t leave a mess behind.

During the second programme, a very pertinent observation was made.  It was stated, having lived in an area with a high population and immediately surrounded by around ten thousand people, nobody spoke to each other in passing.  However, now living remotely, people made a point of finding time for each other.  Overstrand, could never be described as remote living but our village is far from highly populated.  Here, residents find time for each other and often stop for a chat.  ‘How are you?’ is a genuine question, not just something you say.  Last weekend, when our family were visiting, we took our usual morning pre-breakfast walk, during which we stopped and chatted to eight residents.  In the end we had to curtail a couple of conversations, otherwise we would have been back home in time to prepare lunch and not breakfast!  Of course, we are all different and some would be horrified at the thought of living in a village, preferring shopping malls and the like. 

After some dull days, the photo below was taken on Tuesday as the sun was making its appearance, just off the headland.  It lit up the sky and sea, as well as the beach huts; most definitely a welcome sight.