"Come from London, dunn I."

Over the New Year I had a rather deep conversation with my ex-wife on a variety of topics. Among these was where we call "home".
These days, unlike those of my parents, we tend to change our homes and home towns on a fairly regular basis as work moves us about or our aspirations for for a home environment change.
I was born and bred in London and it can still be detected in my accent. At 13, my parents moved to Suffolk, which I hated. Flat, cold, windy and rural were not my cup of tea at that age, especially when you are regarded as overspill at school. At the time, London was my 'home", not Suffolk!
After 11 years of corn fields and cold winds I moved to Gloucester where I set up home with my first wife and embarked on creating and raising a family.
Work then pushed me to various locations in the South West of England, Weston-super-Mare, Nailsea and Bristol, with a divorce along the way.
Bristol is a beautiful city. It, has it's rough areas but the Victorians and many the went before and came after have made the town one of the jewels of the south west. Of the places that I have lived I probably made more friends in Bristol than anywhere else.
The needs of work then demanded a move to the West Midlands and a new home in Willenhall for a little over a year before a return to Gloucester where I have lived for a further 10 years.
Strangely, for many who live here, Gloucester does not have much going for it as a place to spend your life. The shopping centre is small, full of £1 shops and mobile phone retailers. The High Street stores are all here but they are not what makes a city a City, or a town a Town. Its those other niche shops that make a town stand out from the rest.
Many aspects of Gloucester seem second rate, but like those tatty but comfortable trainers that everyone else thinks should be binned, Gloucester has become remarkably comfortable. Though I was not born here, I suppose that I come from Gloucester now.