Swimming in the same sea Oct. 29, 2006

Looking at the nature of the British, or particularly the English, as I did in my last book, and feel the need to do so again, I am convinced that the biggest thing in our psyche is 1 : being an island (off Europe).

And 1 equal : beating the Germans in the Battle of Britain when with odds stacked against us 5 or 10 to 1. When I sit watching the DVD footage of the aerial combat over Kent and Sussex of 1940 and how England turned back Hitler’s aerial (and every other form of) assault, I find myself so proud. As if I had something to do with it perhaps. Or just because any underdog who succeeds deserves respect.

It is as an island race, set apart slightly from the rest of our cousins, that we draw the idea of being ‘special’, ‘different’, ‘independent’. I would imagine that we would think that we alone could repel space invaders, if they come. But of course when one starts talking in World terms, we are all swimming in the same sea.