Write Away: Leighton Buzzard Writers’ LBO Column. This week by Rebecca Wilson...
Have you ever walked down Leighton Buzzard High Street and bumped into someone you know? Frequently, if you’re anything like me. I love it because it makes me feel part of a community.
I’ve lived in London, Manchester and Birmingham and the anonymity of the big city wore off once I reached my 30s. Last year whilst I was shopping in LB, a lady stopped me to sign a petition. It was the mayor, Councillor Amanda Dodwell, who turned out to be a classmate of mine at Aylesbury High School many years ago when we took our A-levels together.
This got me thinking about what a small world it is and the communities in which we live.
Some places are smaller than others: in Iceland there is a dating app so you can check you’re not dating a relative. In Bermuda, where I have been lucky enough to work, there are virtually no hit-and-run incidents because you are likely to know – or be related to – the person you’ve run over. In such a small population, convening an impartial jury is practically impossible.
Whilst working in Gibraltar I became intimately acquainted with the concept of a small world. I didn’t once walk along Main Street without stopping to chat to someone I knew – and I was only there a couple of months. It is such a tiny place that if feels as if absolutely everyone knows your business.
My friend and I took a Gibraltarian colleague out to breakfast to thank him for his help and by the time we got into work, four different people had rung his wife to say he had been seen in a restaurant with two women. You really couldn’t get up to any mischief there even if you wanted to!
So when does a small world stop meaning a sense of community and tip over into being intrusive?
Leighton Buzzard is large enough to allow you to go about your daily life – and also has a significant commuter population into Milton Keynes and London – but there is a great range of community activities and a strong sense of local pride. I have lived in Dunstable for six years but I’ve never felt the sense of belonging that I did as a Leighton resident, despite joining community groups and being a volunteer.
I’ll see you in LB High Street!
> Leighton Buzzard Writers meet fortnightly at the Friends Meeting House in North Street. Call Mike Moran on 01525 370720.
