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Talking of absence...
Nov. 11th, 2005 08:54 pmI visited Stevenage for the first time today. I seem to have a habit of visiting new towns (or extrensively remodelled ones) on cold andblustery days - I seem to remember my first visits to Harlow and Watford were both similar.
I saw almost nothing of the town centre, which is probably a blessing, but did see the Leisure Park on the far side of the station, as my interview was next door to it.
They're a very strange and rather worrying phenomenon, these clusters of entertainment stuff, because they're dehumanising leisure. They make leisure just another process to be gone through, like work, or paying your council tax. Certainly all trace of the users making the entertainment to their own specifications have been ruthlessly excised. Instead you present yourself at a place without reference points or recognisable features, and have entertainment applied to you. Then you go home, possibly pausing for a fight or a fuck according to taste.
There are four nightclubs or similar, pretty much in a row - that must make for peaceful Saturday nights and Sunday mornings...
Once I'd survived the interview (which went better than I had probably expected), I spent most of the rest of the day in Hertford. I can't explain why I like Hertford so much - it's not a spectacularly beautiful town, or especially full of wonders - but it's just a solid market town with some good buildings, a good variety of stuff generally, and it hasn't been too badly buggered about with.
It's also, incidentally, a good drinking town - though I was shocked to discover its finest Free House (the White Horse) has been taken over by Fullers. You have to get past the Market Town Aggro thing, of course - Hertford was where I saw a bloke being knelt on by two policemen, and still telling the world they were a bunch of shits and he'd take them all - sort of like Monty Pyhton's Black Knight, only with all limbs intact.
I'm now back, listening to Dubstar (after an hour of Hem), and feeling slightly less fried than yesterday, but still not great by any stretch. Hopefully HIGNFY and QI will cheer me up, otherwise it's gonna be a long night (took two hours to get to sleep last night - urrrgh).
Other than viz the novel, I seem to be having extraordinary difficulty in getting my arse into gear on anything. I think my clutch may have gone (so to speak)...
I saw almost nothing of the town centre, which is probably a blessing, but did see the Leisure Park on the far side of the station, as my interview was next door to it.
They're a very strange and rather worrying phenomenon, these clusters of entertainment stuff, because they're dehumanising leisure. They make leisure just another process to be gone through, like work, or paying your council tax. Certainly all trace of the users making the entertainment to their own specifications have been ruthlessly excised. Instead you present yourself at a place without reference points or recognisable features, and have entertainment applied to you. Then you go home, possibly pausing for a fight or a fuck according to taste.
There are four nightclubs or similar, pretty much in a row - that must make for peaceful Saturday nights and Sunday mornings...
Once I'd survived the interview (which went better than I had probably expected), I spent most of the rest of the day in Hertford. I can't explain why I like Hertford so much - it's not a spectacularly beautiful town, or especially full of wonders - but it's just a solid market town with some good buildings, a good variety of stuff generally, and it hasn't been too badly buggered about with.
It's also, incidentally, a good drinking town - though I was shocked to discover its finest Free House (the White Horse) has been taken over by Fullers. You have to get past the Market Town Aggro thing, of course - Hertford was where I saw a bloke being knelt on by two policemen, and still telling the world they were a bunch of shits and he'd take them all - sort of like Monty Pyhton's Black Knight, only with all limbs intact.
I'm now back, listening to Dubstar (after an hour of Hem), and feeling slightly less fried than yesterday, but still not great by any stretch. Hopefully HIGNFY and QI will cheer me up, otherwise it's gonna be a long night (took two hours to get to sleep last night - urrrgh).
Other than viz the novel, I seem to be having extraordinary difficulty in getting my arse into gear on anything. I think my clutch may have gone (so to speak)...
