Drowned World

I went back to Norfolk at the weekend. I love Norfolk. I’ve never met a person that grew up in Norfolk that doesn’t love it.

It’s seems that by limiting myself to a little bit of the Today show on Radio 4 some mornings, and regular visits to the BBC News site (my homepage), I’ve been living in ignorance.

Last Friday, I cycled 36 miles through the beautiful countryside of North East Norfolk, riding back along the fertile flatlands of the coastline, and marvelling at its wide sandy beaches. I rode past two windmills, along ‘quiet lanes’, and spent some thirty minutes in awe of a lighthouse set against fields and fields of bright sun soaked daffodils. Last Friday, I made the painful discovery that they want to flood my childhood and the land of my dreams.

It seems that some time ago, a series of terrible, stink infested plans, devised by Natural England on a dark day in hell, were leaked to the public. I’m not the public; I’m a blinkered fool who wouldn’t know the news if it bit her on the bum. I had no idea. The six six six club have been scheming to flood twenty five square miles of Norfolk; including the village where I spent the first two decades of my life, my parents’ home and my oldest friend’s and her children’s home.

Under three of four plans, six villages, hundreds of homes, five of the Norfolk Broads, and thousands of acres of farmland, could be obliterated over the next twenty to fifty years. The sea will be allowed to breach fifteen miles of the North Norfolk coast between Eccles-on-Sea and Winterton. It will flood low-lying land to create a new bay. Experts talk of ‘realigning the coast’. The implication of this terminology - that a little of the coastline will be lost over a large stretch of land - is wrong. The plan is to create a large cavity; akin to taking a bite shaped chunk out of the north east coast. If you want to see what I mean, check out the map on the Save the Broads Blog.

Okay, coastal defenses cost money, and the ice sheets are melting, but flooding a village that’s three miles inland seems wrong. Or perhaps that’s just me being a NIMBY; it probably is. ‘Not in my backyard’ I say. Actually, I’d much rather they did flood my backyard. It’s lovely, but I don’t carry it with me - in my heart - everywhere I go.

I spent today asking people to decorate postcards with words and images to represent what makes them feel happy. It was my idea of bringing positive thinking to the bleak topic of mental health. It worked. I live by the sea and for many people the sea is important to their happiness. I love Brighton and its my home, but it’s not home in the way that Norfolk is.

When I think of a perfect day, I drift back to 1980s. I drift back to a time when weekly teacher strikes gave me, and none of my siblings, a whole day off, every week, for weeks on end. I drift back to days spent lying inside a boat in glorious sunshine; days when I could enjoy the blissful pleasure of having the Norfolk Broads all to myself. Many things make me feel happy, but that’s my happy place. A beach in Barbados means nothing to me.

I sailed on the Norfolk Broads before I could walk.

I spend much of the year hankering for the network of lakes and rivers that provided me with the best parts of my childhood. I always have. The Norfolk Broads are my homeland. I grew up with Swallowtail butterflies in the garden and the hushed talk of Bitterns and possible sightings. Bittern was the name of my school team. The Bittern is a rare bird and it’s making a comeback. It won’t like being in a saltmarsh, and many people won’t either.

There’s a petition online. Unfortunately, as with many of these things it’s been personalised, and it’s not generic. There’s far too much mention of the Pike Anglers Club, pikes fisheries and who caught the biggest fish. The aim is to save entire habitats and communities, not for the sake of one species, but for the sake of them all. The person who set up the petition also neglected to change the default date for the petition end date, and the government need pay it no mind until 26 March 2009. All the same, I signed it. The website for the village - the village that I grew up in - told me to.

Saves the Broads Petition.