McGresty
as it happens
Chichester
Spring was nearly upon us still with cooler temperatures but at least the sun was shining. A rail and bus journey was required to reach the town I wanted to go to. The train would drop me off in the City of Chichester where I needed to find the bus stop. A lady walked me to it. She was friendly, the complete opposite of many people in London, then bade me farewell as I waited for the bus to arrive.
The purpose of my trip was to spend some time with an old friend. We have known each other since I had made my first visit to Morocco, many years ago. It was good to see him and his wife again. With that journey in mind, I decided to return to Chichester and write it up.
On a hot Friday morning, I grabbed a train to the City of Chichester (population 29,407 in 2021 census). In England cities have a cathedral regardless of size, towns have town halls and villages, well they are just villages except for some towns in London—this where it gets quite crazy. For instance, in South-East London there is a town with over 82,000 population named Beckenham and they decided to sell their town hall (it's become a restaurant) so they could say they are a village, just plain arrogance, sad really.
The people in Chichester are friendly and helpful. Their buses are fantastic with drivers who will not move until everyone has sat down and when they come to a stop no one gets up until the bus has halted right next to the curb and they drive very gently. This is the total opposite of London, where bus drivers are lead footed and people get hurt every day with their lousy driving (it is legally a criminal offence and the driver can go to jail for it). Having travelled all over Europe the buses in London are the worst.
I suppose it is up to you if you like Chichester, I personally do not all that much (except for the friendly people) and in future will just go through it to visit my friend. I did try to buy something in a couple of shops but they said they don't do change, so walked out.
Chichester is in West Sussex and the trip there followed 2 wipe outs in the County of Kent. First was the Wildwood Kent fiasco. The second was for Blean to photograph the wild Bison there. I had walked 2 1/2 miles and asked someone how much further. He said don't bother because the Bison had been moved to another location about 10 miles away.
As for Kent, I won't do much there anymore.
The purpose of my trip was to spend some time with an old friend. We have known each other since I had made my first visit to Morocco, many years ago. It was good to see him and his wife again. With that journey in mind, I decided to return to Chichester and write it up.
Some called this a clock tower , others a cross. Whatever it is, this is it and I'm not going to waste time trying to find out.
On a hot Friday morning, I grabbed a train to the City of Chichester (population 29,407 in 2021 census). In England cities have a cathedral regardless of size, towns have town halls and villages, well they are just villages except for some towns in London—this where it gets quite crazy. For instance, in South-East London there is a town with over 82,000 population named Beckenham and they decided to sell their town hall (it's become a restaurant) so they could say they are a village, just plain arrogance, sad really.
The people in Chichester are friendly and helpful. Their buses are fantastic with drivers who will not move until everyone has sat down and when they come to a stop no one gets up until the bus has halted right next to the curb and they drive very gently. This is the total opposite of London, where bus drivers are lead footed and people get hurt every day with their lousy driving (it is legally a criminal offence and the driver can go to jail for it). Having travelled all over Europe the buses in London are the worst.
I suppose it is up to you if you like Chichester, I personally do not all that much (except for the friendly people) and in future will just go through it to visit my friend. I did try to buy something in a couple of shops but they said they don't do change, so walked out.
Chichester is in West Sussex and the trip there followed 2 wipe outs in the County of Kent. First was the Wildwood Kent fiasco. The second was for Blean to photograph the wild Bison there. I had walked 2 1/2 miles and asked someone how much further. He said don't bother because the Bison had been moved to another location about 10 miles away.
As for Kent, I won't do much there anymore.
Okayish.
Aug 02, 2025
More posts from: On the road
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