The People Of Lewes

The view from the kitchen window this morning

Today was so beautiful I couldn’t be bothered with the world . We went for a walk on the Downs but over our preparatory porridge and yoghurt we looked at the local Paper. Our lovely English Town has a fizzy little journal which, like many of its type , is chiefly interesting for the letters column. This week , there was plentiful crop and I thought it might be nice ,in an admittedly twee way , to put one or two here as a flavour . This involves a heroic acts of typing on my part but in compensation , little thinking. The first is a exquisitely barbed put down of local busy bodies . Paul Leader of Framfield is still sticking it to the man with rare panache … ( and at his age :)

Being officially one of the elderly and vulnerable , I was alarmed to read the recent dire warning s from Diana Grice Director of Public health., …(etc.) Her advice to my ‘at risk’ sector is that when Winter sets in we crumblies should ‘heat the room’…’wear a good coat , hat, scarf and gloves’ …wear flat soled non slip shoes’ and eat and drink hot meals and drinks throughout the day .So , no more wandering around Tescos in my underpants then or throwing open my windows ant the first sign of frost, or supping ice cube soup.
This advice comes , of course, from the burgeoning Ministry Of The Bleeding Obvious and is an affront to anyone with an IQ higher than a pigeon’s. Though meant to be helpful, ( to interplanetary visitors perhaps ? ) and possibly translated, at the tax payers expense, into Urdu Polish Bengali , Mandarin and Braille - this drivel verges on ageism, hinting that anyone who has survived over six decades and is not in a locked ward for their own protection must be approaching vegetable bed wetting status and has forgotten how to keep warm
Bill Bentley , East Sussex County Councillor , clearly a black belt in patronising , also warns that ‘living in a cold house can have an effect on your health’ There goes my dream of igloo life in 2008. Who on earth do these twits think they are talking to ? Moreover infantile council-speak obfuscates advice on warming and insulating homes which needs repetition and publicity. Idiotic proclamations from the office in the clouds of nanny Grice only serve to infuriate and alienate many of those she aims to assist. Where’s me thong and sandals , Sainsburys here I come…..

Genius .Peter Messer a local artist recently made the news by saying that newcomers were destroying the character of Lewes. This provoked a storm of debate and the letter I like best was this thoughtful effort by Kathleen Seymour . Along the way she gives a politely acidic description of the class and types of people that mingle in our English Eden to be cherished.….

Peter Messer is scathing about what he sees as the wrong kind of newcomers to the town. He is appalled by its gentrification , Lewes , he says, ‘is losing its identity ‘.
He may be a respected local painter but he`s not so hot on local history.. Lewes has changed and changed again throughout the centuries , from bustling prosperity to rural backwater and back. The arrival of the railways made it accessible and by the early 20th century both grand houses and ugly council estate s were being built on the town’s boundaries for newcomers, who began to outnumber the townsfolk, and then became the townsfolk. The arrival of Sussex University (and later Brighton University) staff from the 1960s onwards changed Lewes again . They favoured back street artisan’s houses , preferably two , three or more which they could knock together to form stylish ‘Town Houses’. Since then Lewes has taken in an arty crowd( including Mr. Messer), the vegan sandal wearing lentil eaters , and a substantial literati element .
The towns identity is further influenced by the huge numbers of people who come into Lewes each day to work in the Local Authority headquarters , the ambulance headquarters and the prison etc. This has been going on for lost of Mr. Messer’s life . Their presence contributes to the success of local businesses, thus benefiting those who live here; That they are also the cause of out traffic problems is also relevant to the nature of the town.
So what identity is Lewes losing Mr. Messer.? The Lewes you remember is not the older one I remember and mine is no the Lewes of the previous generation. My daughter’s Lewes is again different to your and mine

I`m afraid as I was already in this week`s , abusing Ms. Marple ( Norman Baker) , my effort was not included but I just love Kathleen Seymour’s style .

I wore an a sort of walking garment all day today , when for years I have inhabited the a Johnny Boy (out of Mean Streets) Leather Coat and Jeans . The spell of the place is falling on me . Church tomorrow , and a local pantomime . Bliss.