The morning after – and I’m about to leave Durham, on my way back to New York.
I quickly liked the people I met in Durham, from Meredythe and Irwin, over the team around the Obama campaign, to the Americans whose doors we knocked. But I’ve never hidden that as a city, Durham leaves much to be desired ! It has a boring downtown (or none at all, actually) and quite simply lacks life ! I’ve already gotten the history lesson about how the white people fled the inner city as segregation was banned, sparking the suburbanization, the segregation into black and white neighbourhoods instead – and the death of the inner city. But it doesn’t change the fact that a young man can’t go to a decent cafe after 20h to get a beer and read a news paper or his emails – while the malls stay open till 23h !
That was my impression until Wednesday morning, when Meredythe and Irwin took me on a guided tour. We saw the beautiful surroundings in the Research Triangle Park (can we do something like that in DK, please ?), the inspiring Duke University campus (British style, big parks, old buildings – just bigger !) – and we were lucky with the sun bringing out all the best of the autumn colours everywhere.
Durham ain’t that bad after all – and I may have to come back in a couple of years to check up on the progress...
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