As expected, my hope to make at least one entry per week in this blog has been dashed. I was back in A-town last week on my annual pilgrimage to see those responsible for yours truly (yes still, the blame can't end after 35 years so easily) and to see the old stomping ground. Therefore blogging was put on the backburner for want of a better excuse of which I have none.
Whenever I go back home I make an extra special effort to see some of the old haunts that hold special significance in my life. I usually time this by arranging to meet an old friend somewhere and turn up especially early in order to have a nose about before the appointment. It is usually the city, as this is where most of the significant events occurred.
A-town has the dubious distinction of being rather bereft of development. The advantage of this is that it acts as a time capsule that can be unlocked on subsequent visits. I spent an enjoyable hour wandering down the east end of the city peering into bars where I had my first proper drink, first proper night out, first proper chat to girls, and first proper all sorts of things. As can be deduced in my early years everything was done with proper decorum as befits a gentleman albeit a young, naive, inexperienced one.
Some people get nostalgic about these sorts of experiences, and bemoan the passing of the years since they feel life would be better if they could go back to those carefree days. I don't. I'm glad they happened and I enjoyed them enormously, but the past is for our memories, the present is for our attentions, and the future is for our imaginations.
I kind of like being back here now.
Would A-town happen to be a ridiculously symmetrical tidy place built around the nation's finest market? Bordered at the east by Hills and at the west, seas? To the south, vallyes and to the north, more valleys? Is it like Madeline's house: "covered with vines", arranged "in [two] straight lines"?
ReplyDeleteThe very same.
ReplyDeleteA place where curves were not welcome and if it couldn't be designed with a straight ruler, it wouldn't be designed at all.
On Montefiore Hill is erected a statue of Colonel William Light pointing at the city, reputably making the remark "This is the place for a city" which was not a particularly unusual thing for a surveyor-general to say. In fact, he was actually saying "That road is not straight and the intersection is not square. Just you wait till I find my slide rule!"
Hahndorf: and this is the place for saurkraut! And the best jam doughnuts in the country.
ReplyDeleteAnd the spiritual home of the annual Schutzenfest...
ReplyDeleteIch mag bier!