Heath? What Heath?

Good question.I'm glad you asked. Surrey Heath, as it happens. I live there and my house is built upon heathland, which probably explains why I face an uphill battle each year, trying to grow vegetables. Heathland soil is typically sandy and acidic: not what your average carrot would choose for an ideal home. Still, carrots may have one opinion, but according to Channel 4's 'Location, Location, Location', Surrey Heath is the 6th best place to live in the UK. I'm not sure we should get that excited about coming sixth in anything, but I guess we should celebrate what we have, given that we also received an accolade for having shockingly high carbon emissions round here. (For what it's worth, I've just put on a jumper, rather than switch on the central heating. Weren't me, Jack!) On the plus side, I've recently discovered that we have our own blog. Check it out, fellow residents.

In preparation for today's blog entry I did a Google image search for Surrey Heath and here's what my search returned:

Also not my fault.

Nice!

Good to know.

So what  has Surrey Heath got going for it? Well, apparently we enjoy 200 hours more sunshine a year than the UK average. Hard to believe today, as I look out of my window at a 'Tupperware sky': all grey and not a piece of blue in sight. We don't seem to have much in the way of crime. London is just a forty minute train ride away and yet it feels a long way from 'the big smoke' here. Our 'local' news comes from London and the stories aren't the least bit relevant to what goes on around here. Mr Ruby and I sometimes invent our own news stories, when the ones on the television news seem too far divorced from our lives.

In Mytchett today, someone forgot to stop at the pedestrian crossing, but no one was hurt...

The number 3 bus was a little bit late this morning...

and so forth. You're right, of course: not a lot happens round here, but then I rather like that. You, are, after all, talking to the woman who vowed to blog her Not Very Interesting Life. However, the older I get, the more I think I like an NVIL. Gone are the days when my young self looked out at the world and wondered when everything was going to get started. I used to make endless plans for the future and was always in a hurry to get to the next stage of my life. Now I celebrate the here and now, the simple things like domesticity, a cup of tea and a Quiet Night In. I used to wonder when I'd get to see the bigger picture; now I'm happy just to be in the picture! I think it's called middle age.