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The
International Writers Magazine:The
Face of England today
Chessington
Rebecca Taylor
Chessington
- Definitely not the world of adventures! When I normally say Chessington,
people get excited and start to engage in a long winded conversation
generally based around how when they were five they went to the
theme park and adored it. My normal response is Really? I
have always thought it to be rubbish.
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Chessington itself
is a pretty horrendous place to live. Two train stations divide it into
North and South and which part you come from determines the characteristics
of who you will become. Chessington North has a simple parade of shops
with the typical newsagents and a Sainsburys local. Here is where
at approximately 10 oclock at night, the crowds of yobs dressed
head to toe in their finest Adidas tracksuits loiter. Sometimes you get
the occasional polite asbo who just pesters you to buy them cigarettes,
however you do get the odd Give me your wallet or Ill smash
your face in. In Chessington North this is the norm and if youre
clever enough you will just do what they want. See, I am quite fond of
having a face.
Chessington North also has a small church. You would expect every Sunday
to see a small gathering of elderly churchgoers, however after 18 years
of living there I am still yet to see even one person, let alone a priest.
Beyond the church are a couple of pubs. The Bones-Gate is
a particular beauty spot on a Saturday. You see, as I previously mentioned
whilst the groups of delinquents hang outside of Sainsburys local,
the delinquents parents hang outside the Bones-Gate. Here they drag on
B&H Gold whilst drinking a Stella. A lot of pubs in Chessington dont
allow glass outside pubs, just in case you use it as a murder weapon when
you see someone you hate, or when your bored and make someone to hate.
In Chessington North brawls and drunken behaviour is the norm. I guess
you just have to make sure your not there or if you are, peg it when the
CPOs turn up.
Now, over in Chessington South it is a slightly different story. Here
there are no pubs, no Sainsburys, no newsagents. There are however
some points of interest which I feel as a Chessington citizen I should
highlight. Chessington South hosts (in my eyes) the most hideous school
ever, known as Community College. Your children will possibly come across
illegal substances, pregnancy and STIs, or even attacks. Of course
the school did receive a huge grant from the Government recently, so the
school facilities are improving, but its the students who are the
issue. See at C. C. C. this is the norm, regardless of whether you want
to participate or not.
However Chessington South is the wonderful home of the world of adventures.
Attracting thousands every year, this is probably the only thing that
would ever make people want to visit us. Of course it is nice having a
huge theme park on your doorstep as well the zoo, as on a boring day there
is always something to do. However this too has its downfalls. The traffic
is always chock-a-block in the summer when its their prime season. Plus
it means there are lots of random faces and conspicuous characters lurking
around. I shouldnt really moan because at the end of the day, its
nice to have some kind of public interest.
So yes, thats Chessington. Charmed?
© Rebecca Taylor October 2007
rebeccataylor99at hotmail.co.uk
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