Grays

Believe it or not the conference has awoken a long lost interest in Geography from somewhere deep within. Last year we went to a handful of games up north in towns that are instantly dismissed as shitholes by people who haven't actually been there. I enjoyed every one of the northern towns last season and found them to be pleasant well kept places that do not deserve their bad press.
This year our away games seem to be mostly centred around the south east which is great from a travel cost point of view but so far every one of these towns has been a deprived concrete mess falling well below the standards of the much maligned North. I started to wonder after Saturday’s game at Grays why the wealthy South East was in fact a collection of run down depressed towns.
There seems to be a general prejudice in England towards the North. It is seen by many of us southerners (particularly in the South East) as some sort of decaying wasteland where everyone wears a flat cap, eats gristle and speaks like Fred Dinbah. Crazy accent aside this is a grossly unfair stereotype and hides an underlying insecurity in the south about the state of our own back yard. The South East of England is the most prosperous corner of the Country thanks almost entirely to two millennia of international trade in London. There are other 'flagship' towns thrust into public limelight for their beauty and historical significance like Oxford and Canterbury, or as shining examples of modern, clean, safe economic success such as Reading.
Whilst London and other successful towns continue to grow in size and create more and more jobs, so do the economic migration rates leaving surrounding smaller settlements almost devoid of both skilled workers and quality employers. As young professionals within the towns move out, people from further afield look to move in so as to be within easy commuting distance of London without to pay the capital's extortionate property prices. As more of these types of migrants look to move into the towns, new estates have to be built to house them driving up house prices and eventually creating a commuter town with miles of housing estates but facilities befitting a town half the size.This Chain of events has left much of the South East's smaller towns a washed up collection of concrete shells devoid of any plus point other than 'it's close to London'. Although naturally this happens all over the country to some degree, it is most damaging in the South East where the sheer size of the capital and the opportunities within exaggerates the pull factors far beyond those of any other Town in Britain.
What else are you meant to be thinking about during a 2-2 draw in Grays??