Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Hitchin in Hertfordshire is one of those places where I felt immediately comfortable and at home. That was in 1994. I still feel that way.

It is a small town where it is still eminently possible to get by without a car. Old wattle and daub houses cluster down the main street and, in recent times, blue plaques have been added, of which I thoroughly approve. ;)

I’ve spent more hours than I can count just walking around, looking at the cool buildings, and enjoying the vibe. The town has enough facilities to be self-contained, while still retaining the feeling of a community. There is a theatre school there and a considerable counter-culture. I spent my last nights in England with the window wide open, listening to the people returning loudly from the pubs in the street below, feeling part of something alive and good. It’s the kind of place where you can get to know a restaurateur, and receive your food for “friends rate.”

I came to Hitchin through Talitha, a wonderful person whom I miss (her work is 100%-time, not just full-time, now.) I met her at the writing class, and gradually a few of us would gravitate to her kitchen and her cats, a bottle of wine on the table. We met outside the class, writing, collaborating, reciting poems–living a bohemian, creative, satisfying life.

The town square is cobbled, and at weekends a merry-go-round whirls a variety of children round and round in happy circles. The timbers of the perfect used bookstore creak under the weight of time. I lived there as a newly single woman, and then Hitchin sent me off to America. It was a cradle for my creativity, an a launch pad to the future. Even now when I come back, I feel the echoes of that beginning around me like a nice warm safety blanket.

blogathonhitchin

Here are some other posts

• Thursday Thirteen #21: 13 emotions that we’re better off without
• Thursday Thirteen #22: Better decluttering through Thursday Thirteen
• Thursday Thirteen #7: 13 Things I’d barely thought about two weeks ago
• Thursday Thirteen #23: 13 Things about the winter solstice
• Thursday Thirteen #19–13 ways to cheat outrageously at NaNoWriMo

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