Malvern is a medium-sized town, but sometimes it has quite a small-town feel about it. Pretty much every time I go into town shopping, I meet someone I know and stop for a chat. This seems to astonish my sister, who has been visiting recently, as she lives in commuter territory in Greater London where one may well meet up with friends after work in the centre of London, but one doesn’t expect to bump into them at the butchers, or to block the dairy aisle chatting in the supermarket.
Like many close-knit communities, gossip flies around Malvern quickly, so it seems that most people already know what’s happened, and offer me their condolences. And not just friends either. I’ve had a number of tradesmen around recently as there are chores still needing to be done, and I vowed months ago to “get a man in” rather than “do it myself”. I found it really surprising that all of them already knew that Chris had died, and not just from reading the death notice I put in the Malvern Gazette – someone had told them what had happened. Some people might find that uncomfortable or intrusive. I rather like this sense of community, however, and I’ve found it very comforting in recent weeks.
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Malvern sounds like a great place to live. Also, the dialogue between “frosty” and Chris in the comments section of the linked entry is classic! 🙂
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[…] younger than me, and we always went to each other’s parties when we were little. I’ve blogged before about how Malvern often feels like a small town, but I didn’t expect to go to the solicitors […]