When we started living in this place in which we were previously just tourists, it took some time to realise that we were not on a prolonged bed and breakfast holiday. As the novelty of a new home and geography wore off, and the realities of unpacking boxes and starting to conduct a daily life took over, we felt an overriding sense of loss for that automation to which we were accustomed. For us, the creation of new daily realities was, and is, only possible through exploration, observation and serendipity. We want to live this place, not merely exist in it.
On his way from Kensington (London) to East Everley (Wiltshire) in 1826, William Cobbett rode to a place called Tangley. There he approached a woman at a cottage to ask for directions to Ludgershall which he reckoned was only about four miles away. The woman said she did not know. Cobbett recounts this incident like this:
“ ‘Well, my dear good woman,’ said I, ‘but you have been at Ludgershall? - ‘No’ - ‘Nor at Andover?’ (six miles another way). ‘No’ - ‘Pray, were you born in this house?’ - ‘Yes’ - ‘And how far have you ever been from this house?’ ‘Oh! I have been up in the parish and over to Chute.’ That is to say, the utmost extent of her voyages had been about two and a half miles. Let no one laugh at her and, above all others, let not me, who am convinced that the facilities, which now exist, of moving human bodies from place to place are amongst the curses of the country, the destroyers of industry, of morals and, of course, of happiness.” (E. R. Chamberlin, abridg., Rural Rides (London, 1982), p. 108)
Note: Our own journeys are conditioned by virtue of our feet and our bicycles. They are also conditioned by our own biases and tastes which will be made just as plain as Cobbett’s.
Find out where Salisbury is: [GP:Salisbury]
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