Stafford as a town may sometimes get a bit of a bad reputation, mainly due to the bulldozing of all the pretty listed buildings in the late 60’s, and a lack of any distinguishing features. Yes it’s got an unimpressive castle, a windmill without sails and a ‘High House’, but so far the most distinguishing feature I have noticed is that the town exudes a sort of blandness that it is quite tricky to describe. The only growth market locally seems to be in charity shops and despair, and a lot of the locals here joke that the sign coming into town should read “Stafford, great connections to other more interesting locations”.
I once met a rather comical chap in a pub who told me that the town survives almost entirely on money generated by tourists who misread the sign as ‘Stratford’ and come here looking for Anne Hathaways Cottage. He claims that he diverts them to Izaac Waltons Cottage, and they don’t notice the difference. I am somewhat skeptical.
Still, everywhere has its special little gems, and I was thinking of the actual good things about Stafford, and one of those is “Staffordshire Library and Information Service”. I have only been working here in Stafford for little over a year, but I once studied engineering at Stafford College for a year at the tender age of 17, all full of vigor and vim. And probably Clearasil if I remember correctly. The course wasn’t for me and I eventually escaped a year later, but the town Library back then was a fantastic find, and in many ways I probably neglected my studies in favour of hiding in the stacks, reading books selected from the excellent science fiction collection.
