A Letter to Great Britain
There is no greater pleasure than returning home to a place you love. That for me is you, Great Britain.
Whether it be strolling down the Strand or rambling along the Thames, I am always overcome by an immense sense of confidence when I return to this incredible country.
Great Britain is a place that both inspires dreams and it gives you the means to achieve them. Every person you meet, every event you go to, and every turn you take opens new doors and opportunities that you didn’t even know existed. Just as you feel you’re getting bored, a flower opens, and you feel that buzz of excitement once again.
Great Britain is a place of incredible diversity. There is something unique in every town and village: the charm and history of Cambridge, summer trips to Brighton, the wild horses of Lyndhurst, and of course, the never-ending adventures to be found in London. Samuel Johnson was spot on when he observed that:
“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
The city embodies all of our country’s greatest traits. It’s a hive of exchange, trade, and enjoyment. There is nothing you can’t do in London. Ideas and curiosity are embraced, they bounce around and are built upon rather than repressed, be it in the City’s iconic glass skyscrapers, our universities’ lecture theatres, or the walls of luxury fashion houses.
And no-one can deny that we rule when it comes to fashion. From our accents to our trend-setting fashion scene, London is the place to be. Then there’s the Queen, who exemplifies it all.
The charm and occasional awkwardness of our politicians has and will continue to be a constant topic of discussion across the continent, and our music will continue to blast through Airpods worldwide. We may have miserable weather, but a remarkable trait of the people of Great Britain is our ability to pull together and get things done whilst always keeping up morale, be it Dunkirk or last year as coronavirus hit our nation. Such is the British way of doing things, and we certainly are proud of it.
You may think my account of this unique country to be overly optimistic and to be sure Britain, like everywhere, has its flaws. These flaws do not worry me though — I am confident that now, like for hundreds of years before this, our institutions and people will survive whatever is thrown at them and will only come out stronger.
For now, it’s back to Paris. But this short visit just reaffirmed what I already knew. Great Britain, je t’aime. A la prochaine.
