It's strange going home after some time away. Even though Germany is not that far from England and I have been home regularly over the past six years things seem to have changed a lot.
For example on my return to Nottingham the first thing to greet me was the news that a 14 year old girl in Nottingham had been shot and killed:-
"Fourteen-year-old Danielle, from St Ann's, was killed in the early hours of October 9, as she walked home from Goose Fair."
I remember going to Goose Fair as a child. The exitement, the crowds, the rides, the toffee apples and candy floss. I am not kidding myself that all was well then, we had Hindley and the Yorkshire Ripper to worry about then. But I hadn't even seen a gun until I came to Germany.
Now St Ann's has always been a run down area, but since when did people start shooting kids there? Oh I am sure that the person who did it made a mistake, and I am sure they justify it to themselves every day by thinking she should have been tucked up in bed, but if people can't walk the streets without being in fear of their lives something is wrong. Blame it on drugs? Blame it on street and gang culture? Hip hop or garage music? Parents? No, blame it on the person who pulled the trigger.
It was all really depressing and now I don't really want to go back for a while. I think I will stay on mainland Europe for a while longer.