Harry Potter and Gameboys

It is known that those outside of the UK picture us who live in the UK as always sitting in the garden with cream tea, shaded by frilly umbrellas, the men with suits and a pocket watch, the latest right-wing broadsheet newspaper entertaining the smile below their moustaches. Of course, my generation know very differently to such image: a better image.

I am, despite some flaws, very proud to have been brought up in the generation of game consoles and Pokémon. I am also proud of the Britishness that I have been brought up with: the words of J. K. Rowling, a love for our monarch and a strong need to watch a string of soaps in the evenings.

Harry Potter has taught me so much. Not only did it teach me that fear can easily be translated into courage, it taught me the important of friendship. It taught me forgiveness: Harry saving Draco after...everything. I was brought up with such an awesome series of novels, a kick-butt set of films. J. K. Rowling for Prime Minister.

It's no secret that the love for the monarch was lost for a while, but whenever I think of Prince William's charming smile, Kate's flawless dress and Prince Harry and his antics, I can't help but feel pride in our nation and all it has become. Whenever the monarchy is brought up an excited conversation begins and I love that I have lived to truly experience events such as the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate and the Queen's 60 years on the throne.

Naturally the more time goes on, the more tolerant our nation becomes, the more "modern" its institutions become and this means more tolerant people, more open-minded people. I'm proud to have been brought up in the 90s/00s because it is for this reason that I don't look at the world with stereotypes and ignorant opinions. Harry Potter taught me kindness; the monarch has taught me that forgiveness is possible when for a while it was hopeless; soaps have taught me... Well, ok, soaps haven't taught me anything but they create good family-bonding-time (where you shout at Phil Mitchell for his wrong-doings)!

Proud to be a nineties kid,

Freddos & Chocolate Frogs,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

P.S. I just read this back, months after posting and was thinking: Why on earth did I think "Gameboys" were stereotypically "British"? I do not know.