Todd's childhood library in Enfield, CT.
K.A. Laity is with me on sitting in pubs.
Dorte's church in Denmark-her place of solace.
Charles place to roam is the woods near Abita
Springs.Our cottage was the middle one.
For a year of my life, I lived in Worsley, England, a small town outside Salford and near Manchester. My husband was teaching at the University of Salford.
This is really not about Worsley because I've spoken of it before. How much I loved the old (1600s) cottage we lived in, the woods, the town green.
What it is about is how much I miss the pub there. I am not that much of a drinker, but I love pubs. Especially English ones. You could hang around forever and feel quite cozy on a winter's night, quite familial on a Sunday afternoon, sit outside in summer and enjoy the gardens. For two sometimes lonely Americans it was heaven. I've never quite replaced it here. Bars seem like places for twenty-somethings and restaurants aren't the same thing.
Do you have a place like this? Doesn't have to be a pub-just a place you like to go and feel like yourself. A place away from home that's like it.
More My Town Monday posts can be found here.
19 comments:
Beautiful photos!
An old and beautiful building I feel at home in? - must be our local church which is probably a few centuries older than your pub :D
Most Danish village churches date back to 1100, 1300 or so.
Will they ever build churches like that again? I'd love to see it. What's the name and I will look for it on google images.
Here is the homepage: Bedsted Kirke is where we live. It dates back to around 850(Kirke sounds Scottish, doesn´t it?)
My husband is the local vicar; his churches are Bedsted plus a tiny annex church, Grurup (around the same age).
http://www.bedstedkirke.dk/
I'm such a recluse. I don't ever feel completely comfortable in places where other humans are. I feel that way in the woods though.
Oh yes, yes yes! God, I miss England and pubs -- and it's only been a month. Pub culture is just so different from American bars, which are all about making money. Pubs are a refuge, a sanctuary. I spent most of June drifting around London, sitting in pubs and writing. Heaven. Can't wait to be back -- permanently eventually.
Good libraries had that feeling for me. My favorite in this wise was probably the Enfield (CT) library of my youth, or the Nashua, NH library of my slightly later youth, or perhaps even the Hamilton Library on the University of Hawaii campus of my slightly later youth (even if the lesser Sinclair Library had the clubhouse for members of the program for Promising Students on its top floor, and the English Dept. lounge had a good collection of back issues of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION).
One particularly nice feature of the Nashua library in the 1970s was the comfortable chairs next to the turntables so one could listen to the LPs in the library if one chose (mostly comedy and plays and author/dramatic readings, for me).
Not the most social setting, but it could be at times.
I have to say that I do enjoy being in the British Library and sneezing really loudly (as I tend to do) and hearing it echo across that huge room and watch all the heads come up like spooked gazelles.
Thanks for letting me join you in the pub, Patti. I am always willing to try a new one. My fave is the Marquis of Cornwallis near Tavistock Square because it still doesn't have any televisions but it does have Budvar and Leffe Brune as well as fine British ale. Hurrah!
We used to stay at the Tavistock Hotel when we came to England. Quite a rundown place but cheap. We've stayed in London twice for a month since our year-long trip and just love the walking above all else.
The Tavistock is my usual hotel in London. The heroine of one of my novels lives on the square, so I make good use of the area. Walking in London is a joy always.
And it's funny too that this year suddenly Salford is constantly coming up for various reasons. Must be the Ideal influence, or else The Fall, or all the folks from SU I met at the Great Writing conference...
That is indeed the structure, Patti...I didn't realize how new it was when I began patronizing the Enfield Central Library in 1973 (and continued till moving away in 1976). "At the time of it's opening [1967] the Enfield Central Library recieved much attention and recognition as one of the finest in the state. According to the Hartford Courant, our collection is the tenth largest in Connecticut and we are one of the leaders in technology."
I started a YA novel set in the library in part when I was ten. Wrote a couple of chapters.
And (sic) on "it's opening." Not the finest at proofing their website, the ECL (or its boosters).
Todd-My first library in the city of Philadelphia was a mobile one. I remember my joy when they build a branch near my home.
Quite an interesting area-with its claim as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. And loved the Peak District.
I lived in the Hammettly-named town of Hazardville, which had been absorbed by Enfield. The most obvious industrial expressions (at least to me) in Enfield when I lived there were Olympic Cards (they advertised in the comic books...you sold enough cards, you Could Get a Bicycle!), and, during my time in, the establishment of Lego US. Recently shuttered, I believe.
Ah, pubs. The atmosphere, the beer, the darts. Especially the darts. God, I haven't played darts in years now.
I am the world's worst dart player. I rarely hit the board.
Patti, you are quite right about the English pubs: warm, cozy and an island in the rush of life. There are a few bar/restaurants in Toronto like that: The Elephant Castle (King Street West and Simcoe Street).
I will seek them out over Labor Day. Thanks!!!
What a pretty and varied display!
I just found our beautiful church here and showed my husband that it has gained international fame :D
Post a Comment