Unlike friends from Cymru, or Yorkshire, I don't feel a huge connection to the place of my birth, Kent. However, on Boxing Day I had a run along the route, or an old, familiar childhood walk. Going far further than I meant to, enjoying the sight of familiar trees and fields. I was able to appreciate the quiet beauty of the place, the bricks and tile vernacular building style... ...and mourned the changes, so many orchard and hop fields gone. On my return to my parents' house, the house where I was born, I was greeted by roses still in bloom (as am I).