The Beating Heart Of Bath

( A memory)

I had to catch the bus this evening in order to get to the rugby ground. It’s been drizzling all day and I know that the ground will be sodden…. Never a pleasurable experience down at the ‘rec’.

I celebrated my seventeenth birthday today…. Mother Nature hasn’t helped at all…lol.… and some of the lads and I are going for a curry tonight. There’s a great Indian restaurant built into the arch of Pulteney Bridge. We’re all looking forward to it.

Ahhhhh….I can see that the floodlights are already on. That means the coach is eager.

Walking through Bath is always a joy. It’s a town that buzzes day and night. Down here in Southgate, the architecture is awful, but there are plans afoot to tear it all down and build a new shopping district along with a new bus station. That would be a marked improvement. Nonetheless, it’s a great ‘small city’.

The rugby club is the beating heart of the city, and I’m lucky to have been associated with it for a couple of years now. It’s widely thought to be the most powerful rugby club in Europe ( and therefore the world?), and I was recruited into their ranks as a fifteen year old. It’s given me a lot of opportunity to travel the length of Britain, and has taught me self discipline ( which is why I’m plodding through the rain to throw myself around in the mud ).

As I walk, I have to sidestep the scaffolding that seems to be everywhere. The city has begun a project to clean all of the walls, and I have to say that here, around the abbey, it’s transformed how it all feels and looks. It’s wonderful!

Crossing the road onto the bridge, I can look back at the city centre. The rain looks like a fog hanging above the architecture….it looks ‘atmospheric’, and quite pleasing.

Anyway, I must hurry !

I walk down the steps onto the embankment, and trot past the weir into the rugby clubs gates. As I thought, the coach is there and he’s waiting for me and a few other stragglers.

Travel is a wonderful thing to do, and as a guide, I’m very happy to tell my tales of growing up in England……it can only add to the richness and texture of a tour. As travellers, never hesitate to speak to the local people about their way of life……. They, I know, would love to chat with you and explain things.

The mundane can be an education just as easily as a museum or gallery.

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