1. I’m going to be boring and start with safety. During our stay (which is almost 12 weeks so far) I have never felt unsafe here. The town is quiet after 9 PM and you can leave your windows open during the day.
2. The sales people in the supermarket always ask how you are and strike up a conversation. The topics covered so far are the weather (well, duh), Finnish licorice, flowers, Easter, my hair colour, my high-heeled shoes, grapefruit’s effects on high blood pressure and Urho Kekkonen.
3. Random strangers look each other in the eye and greet in the park and sometimes even on the street. It took some time to realise that they are not mad nor do they want anything from me.
4. There are cats on our way to the supermarket. Or on our way anywhere. They are not common enough to be commonplace (as if cats ever could be), but a frequent enough sight to help deal with the horrible feeling of missing my two kitties.
5. Oxfam Books & Music store, which is a charity shop selling second hand books and records for a couple of quids a pop. The regular Saturday visit results in 4-5 new books in our living room which is still lacking a bookshelf.
6. The abundance of nice restaurants and the fact that people actually eat outside the home. Even on weekdays. And after a second visit (or sometimes the first one) the barkeep or waiter remembers you. The corner pub is Nelson Arms.
7. When every other shop closes no later than 5.30 PM, the wine shop directly across the street is open every day at least till 8 PM, 9 PM on Fridays and Saturdays. The sales team of two people already knew where we lived when we first visited the store and they occasionally wave at us when we are sitting by the kitchen window.
8. You can walk everywhere and London is an hour’s train ride away.
9. The variety of markets and fairs in a month for such a small town is astonishing. At the book fair you can have a spirited but amiable argument with an antiquarian over the supposed bigotries and prejudices of Jeremy Clarkson. At farmers’ market you can taste ales, enjoy a freshly made Angus beef burger al fresco or meet the mayor!
10. You can bring alcoholic beverages into the large auditorium that serves as a cinema once a week.
11. There’s a guitar shop. I don’t play the guitar, thus have no use for the shop, but I do adore the fact that the town has a fairly large shop dedicated only to selling guitars and related paraphernalia.
+1 The St. Andrew’s Church bell tolls every fifteen minutes – very handy if you are lying awake at night wondering what time it is but too lazy to pick up the mobile phone (which serves as an alarm clock). The bell gives a jingle of some sort every quarter-hour, but when it’s xx.00, you can count the strokes and, voilà, you have the time.
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