A New and Maiden Holiday-Ground
Westward, beyond the still pleasant, but, even then, no longer solitary, hamlet of Charing, a broad space, broken here and there by scattered houses and venerable pollards, in the early spring of 1467, presented the rural scene for the sports and pastimes of the inhabitants of Westminster and London. Scarcely need we say that open spaces for the popular games and diversions were then numerous in the suburbs of the metropolis. Grateful to some, the fresh pools of Islington; to others, the grass-bare fields of Finsbury; to all, the hedgeless plains of vast Mile-end. But the site to which we are now summoned was a new and maiden holiday-ground, lately bestowed upon the townsfolk of Westminster by the powerful Earl of Warwick.
And what better words to summon you to this new and maiden holiday-ground than those of Lord Lytton, whose fine volume The Last of the Barons we picked up for three quid on Saturday, in a leather-bound 1900 edition. We have laboured hard, these many hours, to build a pleasant, but, even then, no longer solitary space, broken here and there by CSS borders, in the late winter of 2006. Scarcely need we say that, for some weeks after our return from New York, we could not be bothered, or, rather, that we were far too occupied by fresh pools. But at last we have bestowed upon you, townsfolk of Web-minster, this hedgeless plain of grass-bare fields...
We, I mean, I (slipping back into my own voice, for, lo!, it is I, etc.) have changed a few things around here, as you’ve no doubt already noticed. Goodbye, Feed, and the increasingly pointless separation of blog and journal. Goodbye, blog entries on the front page of the site; it seemed sensible to submerge them slightly to help guide new visitors around this ramshackle maze. Hello, job-related advertising (below); not too intrusive, hopefully, and it might help keep me in work beyond the middle of next year. As for the rest, a few more corners of the site could use a revamp, but we’ll see how it goes.