Mostly I feel safe walking through this town in the early hours and in the dark. Though it is never wholly dark. There are streetlights and squares of light from windows from those still awake or newly so, like me. Nevertheless, the feeling of being out there is different from the day time. Particularly on a Saturday night Sunday morning. Like this morning. There is a sense of something vivid, frenetic. It’s the kids, students mainly. They drink too much – whether it is a coping mechanism, habit or peer pressure, I don’t know. There was a group of them coming home from a club, no doubt and walking along Llanbadarn Road. Two lads broke away from them with the excuse that they needed to get something and would join them later. Text me when you are near, one of the girls said to them, or if you are not coming. One of the boys was noisy. I heard them as they walked behind me, commenting on my stick and then kicking some cans off a dustbin. I felt uneasy and took another direction. They are or were no doubt perfectly kind and good but instinct, particularly at that liminal time is a strong one and should be followed.
All the chores are now done and I’m ready for proper work. I’m so enjoying reading Middlemarch (I do so at breakfast). What a beautiful study of marriage. And its characters are so compassionately drawn, all of them.
