So, I'm hoping to sell my house next year. It's a bomb site, I know, but I'm sure someone will want it. I'm told there aren't enough houses on the market, so I reckon it's a good time. But anyway, as I choose our walks at the moment, I'm also looking for places that I might like to live. I thought about this spot, but it's not for sale, and also it's the Midland hotel.
I decided to have a look at Heysham instead, on this drizzly, dark evening. There's this rather interesting street called Twemlow Parade. It's at a very tiny altitude, looking over the bay to the north and Lancaster to the south, and I quite like it. I don't think I can afford to live on it, but it got me thinking that perhaps I should move to Heysham instead of the slightly dodgy bits of Morecambe I've been looking at thus far. 'Let's walk around Heysham, Freya,' says I, 'and see if we feel safe or scared.' As good a test as any, surely.
If you skip just a few yards from Twemlow Parade, you're on the prom. And it's a lovely bit of the prom as well – very quiet, very wide and open, very pretty. Except I was here at night, so you can't really tell. What I really wanted to know was how safe I would feel walking towards Heysham Village and away from Morecambe because there are no street lights here. Only one way to find out.
That's Morecambe, down that way – lots of lights. For half a second, I considered abandoning the experiment and just taking the well-lit route because I know my mum and Auntie Trish worry about me getting murdered when I'm walking in the dark. But I squashed that thought as soon as it made itself known. Nah, man, let's live a little! Adrenaline's good for the circulation.
You know my iPhone sucks in light to make things look less scary, so when I tell you it was a lot darker than this, you know I'm telling the truth. I couldn't see anything like that far ahead. Also, I had rain on my glasses, which didn't help either. Really, I was letting Freya lead the way because she has better night vision than me.
We got halfway down the prom and my eyes had started to adjust to the lack of light. It wasn't in the least bit scary. I was quite exhilerated actually – the evening was very fresh and refreshing. It wasn't particularly cold, wrapped up as I was, and the drizzle was lovely. It was frizzing my hair like you wouldn't believe, but who the hell cares about that?! It was a very pleasant evening out. That was when I started to think that this might be the place I'd like to live for a few years, until I'm ready to go northeast. There are always houses for sale in Heysham, and they're quite cheap. We'll think on this for a while.
The little hill in the middle of this picture is the main bit of Heysham Village. It's very pretty and I've shown it to you before. I think it looks very welcoming to the cold and tired traveller. I wasn't cold or tired, but it still looked welcoming. And how nice would it be to live so close to the beach? Sure, there's a nuclear power station on the other side of that little hill, but that's okay. I know lots of people who work there, so maybe I'd reconnect with old friends. That'd be nice. I think it'd also be really nice to live near that lovely ancient church.
The rain started to get too heavy for me to risk using my camera after this. Freya didn't seem keen and tried to stay sheltered behind my legs, which made for some quite tricky walking, but we managed. I enjoyed this walk very much and I will do it again. I might even do it this afternoon so we can see it during the day.
Until then, beachcombers,
WQ+F
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