England isn't London

I don't know why I'm thinking about this today, but I read it somewhere and it's true, it happens to me. I tell people I'm a missionary in England, and they all end up wishing me well in London. Well, um, thank you...? But I'm not in London. That's like someone telling me they're moving to California, and I say, "Have fun in L.A.!"

London is the capital of England and has a population of 8.3 million people. England itself has a population of 53 million...Although it's a relatively small country, there is a lot more to England than London. And I have noticed that London, despite being in England, isn't really all that English. In fact, a lot of English people don't even like London. It's a very busy international city with people living there from all over the world, especially from other European and commonwealth counties (i.e., India, Australia, West Indies, etc.) and bares little resemblance to most other English towns.

Thus far, I have lived in three English towns and am about to move to my fourth, and not one of them has been London. I've included a map so you can see. The first time I lived in England, I was in Oxford, which is about an hour and a half northwest of London. The second time, I lived in the countryside near a tiny town called Battle, which, on this map, would be just east of Brighton on the south coast. It was beautiful! This past venture in England I lived in Southport, which is slightly north of Liverpool, on the west coast. And in just 5 weeks, I will be moving to Walsall, which is outside of Birmingham, located in the middle of the country. 

There is so much more to England than London, and if you weren't really aware of that before, I hope you are now. If you ever go to England, and want to experience the actual country, make sure to get out of London. Go to Brighton, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, York or Newcastle. That is the real thing. Those places are what make England, England.