The Backstory Meme

[smallhobbit]

Taken from ride_4ever 

1. First name: I am the Small Hobbit, which is all you need to know
2. Age: Retired, slightly early but that gives you some idea
3. Location: Gloucestershire - my local places tag will give you some idea
4. Occupation: See answer to 2 above
5. Significant other: Currently making a cup of tea
6. Kids: The Son, the Daughter, plus Mini Hobbit. Also Son's wife and Mini Hobbit's mummy (we communicate regularly and far more efficiently than via the Son)
7. Siblings: No
8. Pets: Have had cats in the past, plus the obligatory fish, gerbils and hamsters
9. List the 3 biggest things going on in your life: Gloucestershire Bundles (I'm speaking at a local concert tonight where the retiring collection will be for us); family (we're actually seeing them all of them over the Easter break); everything else
10. Where and for what did you go to school: Mostly in Basingstoke - education was compulsory
11. Parents: I did indeed have them
12. Who are some of your closest friends: While I am friendly with people I meet, my actual friends all live at a greater distance

Comments

[ride_4ever]

Well, there's a coincidence about the author Basingstoke! I hadn't seen any communication from her in a while, and then you and I commented to each other about her, and today I saw a newly-posted tweet from her!

And why do you say that about getting away from Basingstoke -- the place, not the author LOL. I am getting dichotomous info on the net. In one place it says "[Basingstoke's] thriving nightlife, excellent shopping and plenty of family-friendly activities [make it] hardly surprising that Basingstoke was voted one of the top 50 places to live in Britain in 2020 in the Halifax annual Quality of Life survey" and in another place it says "Basingstoke is rough....the third most dangerous major town in Hampshire".

[smallhobbit]

I left Basingstoke many years ago, when there wasn't that much to do and there were very limited attractions - it may have improved since. I suspect it depends which sources you look at as to what is said about the town. When I was there, in the 1970s the centre was all concrete and very unappealling, and when I last returned about 10 years ago it didn't seem to have changed a lot, although I wasn't interested in the nightlife. My impression was that there were wealthier areas, due to people working in London, and less affluent areas, as is the case in most large towns.