Susan Hill Susan Hill

East Anglia is the place for birds

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I first visited Orford in 1970, at peak Cold War when this stretch of the East Anglian coast was one of the most dangerous places to be, so that for three months of each winter living in Aldeburgh, I was perfectly positioned for maximum danger between Orford Ness with its secret atomic weapon testing, and Sizewell’s nuclear power station. I was too busy writing books to worry but Orford, bristling with military security and terrifying ‘Keep out’ notices, gave me nightmares. Now it is quiet save for some magnificent gales and rain battering the windows of this house overlooking the water. I am in mid-book as usual, and Orford Ness is an innocent nature reserve, with some access, though one area is still worryingly out of bounds. I look over to the blackened remains of military buildings, and in spite of bird calls and the gentle turn of the tide, find it a disturbing place, and very ghostly.

During lockdown we knew where we were, now we have one foot in, one out, which is discombobulating. Air pollution in London is almost as high now as it was last winter, though how that can be when the place is half-deserted I don’t understand. I could never live there again but I miss the lunches with friends, occasional nights in my favourite hotel, and the sight of Ely Cathedral from the train window, travelling to and fro. Nobody is completely happy, nothing is normal, everything is a worry. Yet I certainly did not feel like this in the months of full lockdown — I loved it, I felt calm and peaceful. Why? Because we did know exactly where we were, or were happy to obey clear orders, but now the orders have become confused and even contradictory.

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