Two Things Done Well - - and one Could Do Better

"So, what did you do well?"

As you know, I take part in roleplay to help to train healthcare professionals - doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists - - many different professions. At the end of the roleplay, the facilitator will ask this question of the student who's been doing the interview. The reply is usually something like this:

"Oh, I don't know - - I don't think I was very good - - well, I think I introduced myself well - - but after that - - I should have asked better questions."

"No, let's think about what you did well, first of all."

People - perhaps British people, especially - are very bad at describing what they're good at. So, at the end of the session, after their skills have been discussed, and after the things that they could improve on have been discussed too, the facilitator often asks the student to name two things that they can do really well, and one thing that they can improve on.

Since I'm leaving Britain on Friday for two weeks to visit America (and even as I type it I don't believe it yet) I'm going to ask that question of Britain.

Two things you do really well, please, Britain, and one that could be improved.

Well, here are mine:

The first thing that Britain does well is scenery. For such a comparatively small island there is such a range of different kinds of scenery. Rolling hills, mountains, green valleys, coastal cliffs, beautiful beaches. I love Britain's landscape, absolutely love it. I'll allow myself to choose just one photograph of the hundreds and hundreds that I have taken and for some reason I keep thinking of this one, which I took on the Cleveland Way near Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire, one glorious Spring day.

I know that books about photography say that you should take landscape photos in the early morning or at dusk - well, yes, perhaps - - but, for me, this one, taken in the middle of the day, sums up a day in the British countryside - I just want to walk straight ahead into the photograph and keep on walking.

The second thing that I think Britain does well is history, of course. There are many things in our history that we should be thoroughly ashamed of - but if you love old buildings, and a sense of the passage of time, and everything from prehistoric monuments to stately homes, then Britain is a place where you can find enough to visit somewhere different every day, for all your life, and I love that.

And a Could Do Better. There are many, of course, but for me, a crucial one is litter. I hate the filth that we leave on our streets - I hate the fact that we almost seem to accept it. Of course, we don't spend nearly enough on clearing it up, true - - but if nobody dropped litter, we wouldn't need to.

I see litter as a sign that we're demoralised, that we don't care enough about our country, and I think that's a terrible shame. When I go to other countries and see their clean streets I wince when I think what foreigners must think of us.

So, two Very Goods and one Could Do Better. It's sad that it tends to be the Could Do Betters that stick in people's minds.