Comparisons Near and Far.

I was talking to the manageress in the coffee shop today and she was recounting her travels in South America, mostly through Brazil and Argentina. I asked her whether the two countries were very different and she said they were.

‘Travelling in Brazil was much scarier,’ she said. ‘In Argentina I travelled everywhere alone and only got mugged once.’

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On a more prosaic note, I was reminded again today of the difference between my two local market towns, Ashbourne and Uttoxeter. In Uttoxeter you see more shuffling people; you see more disabled people; you see more wheelchairs. Uttoxeter is a poorer town than Ashbourne and the link between wealth and health has often been noted. I generally feel more comfortable in Ashbourne, but I’m probably closer to home in Uttoxeter. And I’m beginning to feel aggrieved that my kidney wasn’t given a proper funeral.