Well, somewhere in the vicinity of Mellstock, at any rate. Near what used to stand for the wild, untameable Egdon Heath.
All tamed now, of course. The dairymaids, wild romantics, furze-cutters, foresters and hedge-workers all gone. Likewise a severe pruning in clergymen - and even clergywomen now. No fear of an ooser as you head across to Rainbarrows. Just the danger - much greater, if more prosaic - of being run over by a hurtling car as you head up Hollow Hill in a dozen layers of Gore-Tex against the Wessex weather.
I can't help feeling that, along with TB, cholera and a high chance of death in child-birth, we've lost something important. Thomas Hardy might understand.
All tamed now, of course. The dairymaids, wild romantics, furze-cutters, foresters and hedge-workers all gone. Likewise a severe pruning in clergymen - and even clergywomen now. No fear of an ooser as you head across to Rainbarrows. Just the danger - much greater, if more prosaic - of being run over by a hurtling car as you head up Hollow Hill in a dozen layers of Gore-Tex against the Wessex weather.
I can't help feeling that, along with TB, cholera and a high chance of death in child-birth, we've lost something important. Thomas Hardy might understand.
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