1. Remembering That Southampton Has Its Own Gravity
Many of us have tried to leave over the years, only to find that Southampton, with its gorgeous city centre parks, with the familiar bars and pubs, with the seagulls stealing food from pigeons... Southampton, with the culture, the museums and the music (Band Of Skulls, Foxes and Sotones; Talking Heads, The Brook and The Joiners), has dragged them back. But ultimately, we accept our lot. Kicking and screaming, we find our way back from Brighton and Bristol, Sheffield and Manchester, even back from the Smoke itself: back home to the south coast city with no bloody beach and a questionable relationship with its neighbours. Our legendary pubs might be gradually closing down - but they're still some of the greatest pubs in England, celebrating the finest traditions of British pub culture with a twist of the twenty-first century on the top. Our artistic community may be run from a little vegetarian cafe and a ghetto under a bridge - but that's a hell of a creative coterie, and the wee cafe in question is the mighty Art House, a not-for-profit, community-driven labour of love that's been a vital part of city life for a decade. No, there's no escaping Southampton... and most of us, for all our complaining, wouldn't have it any other way.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
