Introducing Your Hometown - C1

Good afternoon, I'm Ali — a twenty-six-year-old primary school teacher who grew up in London and has lived in Manchester for the past two years. To give you a sense of who I am, I grew up in Croydon, in south London, and, notably, I remember the local market my grandmother used to take me to. Beyond the obvious, I moved away for work two years ago. At the same time, I still go back for football matches with old school friends, particularly when other demands make that harder than it sounds. If there's a thread running through all of this, it's probably that I think the food and the noise of the streets is what I miss most. In many ways, what defines me has less to do with any single fact and more to do with how a hometown stays part of you even after you move away.