IT'S PRETTY COOL ISN'T IT // MY AREA

I'm writing this on a sun longer as I sit (and occasionally lounge) in the glorious sun that we've been gifted with here in West Wales and, it seems, in the whole of the United Kingdom. It is on sunny days like these that I can begin to appreciate where I live. This appreciation was magnified this afternoon as I read the newspaper - uprisings in Egypt, teenagers murdered over smart phones, never ending wars in Syria and corrupted politics. It is at this moment in time that I appreciate that the only noise I can here is that of the screeching of a red kite being playfully attacked by another bird.

I understand that many, including me, at numerous times in their lives have disliked living so far away from everything. So far away from civilisation. As I now spend most of my time in an area where a less than ten minute walk can get you to a train station and a 35 minute journey can get you in to the English capital, I can fully appreciate how isolated we are here in West Wales. But, so what?

On Jeremy Vine a few days ago he was discussing and comparing newspaper headlines throughout the country with many urban areas sporting front pages with words such as "Two people stabbed in bus stop" whereas areas out in the country had calmer headlines that read "Dog found in shed". Some might find the latter pointless, laughable even but if you had to choose which area you would rather live in after reading these stories I'm sure I can guess which one you'd choose.

It's true we have nothing here. The nearest cinema is an hour away and so is the nearest shopping area but despite this we were never bored growing up. Who needs shops when you have rivers and who needs an arcade when you have forests. Simple.

Despite this I would not be able to live here throughout my years after university as I want to travel, live in those cities with such shocking headlines and to live between never ending streets of shops and cinemas. Although, I don't think I'd be able to live in places like London for long - too built up and busy. San Clemente or San Francisco on the other hand, well that's a different story! To live in California would be a dream - sea, mountains, desert, peace and civilisation. What more could you need?!

For now however, I am pretty happy with views like these.