There was never any doubt in my mind that when I had a family I wanted my children to grow up outside of London. I didn't grow up in the Capital, I moved there after university and while an exciting place to live in my twenties I knew I wanted something safer, greener and cleaner in the next stage of my life. And in a big way I have not left the city behind as I commute there every day but when I get back to Hurst Green station I can walk home across the green.
Today's Evening Standard headline reminds me why I left. It is not particularly unusual but that is the point. Tragedies clearly happen everywhere but when I read that a 14 year old boy was stabbed to death for a dirty look it is clear to me that moving out of London was the right thing to do. Its not that any of us can guarantee that this will never happen in Oxted, but that it would be so unlikely as to be shocking. In London it is just another knife crime - tomorrow it will be forgotten - except of course by the friends and relatives of the victim. My prayers this evening are for his parents.
