Discovering Halifax

 Halifax is a fascinating beast – and my relationship with it seems to expand every time I actually spend more than a fleeting couple of hours here. Which is less often than you'd think, given I live hear (but more often than you might expect if you know me).

My route between home and train station (often via a supermarket) was already of interest. Discovering how many different shops there were, serving pretty much all I would ever really need from shops. Working out when I could get to the library. Assessing when I wanted to trek across town for food or when I just wanted to pop into the central shop. But it's all a bit towny. Not much greenery or open space.

I discovered the Halifax Playhouse – I've already had a bit of a play on the stage and am looking forward to getting more of a feel for the team of volunteers who keep it open and running over the next few weeks and months.

And I started discovering the open spaces – the People's Park is up the road from me, the old hall on the corner of my road which has just sold to a training company, and the fascinating shift from back to backs to large stone buildings with enclosed gardens and mature trees. Halifax seems to be an amazing patchwork of really quite different parts which somehow meld into a whole.

But in the main there's a cared for and clean feel to Halifax. Even though there are a number of empty buildings in the city centre, they are clean and generally in a good state of repair. Yes, there are exceptions but that's what they are – exceptions. Compared to, say, Morecambe, Halifax feels somehow like it's having an odd spell of not being “fully occupied” rather than having been abandoned and left to rot. My little flat with its central location was a real find – but if I'd gone slightly further from the centre I could have found myself one of those gorgeous houses (OK, maybe not the detached ones, but perhaps a terrace) with a lovely big garden and this great sense of space.

That's what it is. A sense of space. Whereas Hebden is beautiful its location in a very narrow part of the valley makes it feel enclosed, somehow trapped. And this from someone who's lived in London. But Halifax has the sense of the hills but is ON the hill. So rather than being trapped in the valley bottom there's this sense of space, and relief, and roominess. Perhaps not in the absolute town centre but it doesn't take many minutes to walk to somewhere I can find that feeling. And with a little bit more grass and a little bit less concrete I suspect it could even be introduced to the areas just outside the centre very easily.

Leaving my flat this morning I was reflecting on the comparison of the sublime simplicity of Halifax (simple flat, simple furniture, simple kitchen, sewing machine, done) and the slightly ridiculous nature of Morecambe (rooms and rooms and rooms and rooms with stuff and stuff and stuff and stuff). And realising that I do have a desire for space and space and space and I thought Morecambe would offer that. And it does – in a way. But that the long term dream of the rooms AND the space are just that – longer term. Not in a defeatist way. But in a being happy where I am and really enjoying building the picture of that fabulous place of space for the future. Having a reason to be doing what I'm doing – as laying the foundations for that future. Recognising all the experiences that have led to now – good and bad. Valuing the now. Valuing the dreaming.

And particularly – enjoying the space and the sun.