George Orwell:
"Here it is worth noting a minor English trait which is extremely well marked though not often commented on, and that is a love of flowers. This is one of the first things that one notices when one reaches England from abroad, especially if one is coming from southern Europe. Does it not contradict the English indifference to the arts? Not really, because it is found in people who have no aesthetic feelings whatever. What it does link up with, however, is another English characteristic which is so much a part of us that we barely notice it, and that is the addiction to hobbies and spare-time occupations, the privateness of English life."
From England, Your England.
"Not really, because it is found in people who have no aesthetic feelings whatever."
What a condescending snob Orwell must have been!
Posted by: peter | July 23, 2008 at 05:45 PM
You're not the first to say that, Peter!
Posted by: Dave Hill | July 27, 2008 at 12:10 PM