Wisbech: You Can't Get There From Here
Ok. It's Saturday. I've got a bit more work to do at the British Library, bestest place in the world -- in fact, I'm making plans for ekeing the work on out, pretending to have more to do there than I actually in reality do. Might spend the entire afternoon in the tea room, working on the laptop.
And tomorrow I go to Wisbech.
Now, as promised, I'm going to tell you about Wisbech. In fact, I believe I'll tell you a lot about Wisbech.
No, wait, better not. Until this book's actually done, I better watch it.
So I'm not going to tell you ALL about Wisbech. I believe I will not tell you several stories I have about the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, and various things they have done to me. On that subject, let me just say that they happen to hold two of the most important manuscripts in my collection. So I must deal with them. And let's just say they don't make it easy.
But instead of talking about the Wisbech museum, why don't I just explain about Wisbech. Which is just like the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, only without walls.
Wisbech is about 10 miles vaguely north of Ely. In the middle ages, before the fens were drained, it was in the middle -- this was marsh country, full of eels. (Hence the name of the city of Ely -- it was on an island, surrounded by eels.) Up until the high middle ages, Wisbech was a thriving port town. Then the water got diverted, when the Bishop of Chichester built a new channel that took the water to what's now King's Lynn (in Wisbech they still bitch about this). But later -- that is, in the 14th century -- the bishop of Ely built another water channel, and the water came back. Then they were important again for a while. Now they're not. I believe history has given them a complex.
Wisbech is important to me because they had a bunch of musicians living there in the late middle ages and on into the 17th century, and also they had players. They were a happening town. At that time. As I say.
So. Because of my work, I must go there and look at manuscripts -- account books that record payments to some of these musicians and actors.
Fine.
But you can't get there from here. Back when I was living in Cambridge for a while, doing this research, I would take the train to King's Lynn and then a bus to Wisbech. But you can't take my big suitcase onto the bus, apparently. And there are no trains. There used to be trains, but now there aren't any trains.
I googled about this for a while, and kept coming up with horror stories. Apparently it happens a lot to people that they take the train into Peterborough or King's Lynn, and they can't get anywhere, and they're stuck, and they're supposed to be in Norwich or some such, and then taxis take them to Wisbech and they get stuck at some industrial park. It's very scary, apparently.
For a while I toyed with the idea of renting a car. I thought about this a lot, in my idle moments, trying to visualize driving on the other side of the road. But it's not really a good idea. (If you've not been reading this blog long, I refer you here, for a picture of what me in the car trying to follow directions is like. In America. Where we drive on the side of the road I was trained to drive on, having learned to drive there.) I had lovely little emails from my beloveds back home, making calm arguments against the idea. They were really very circumspect; it wasn't until I told everybody that I'd realized it was a very bad idea that they all broke down -- their emails were nearly weeping from relief. They were not looking forward to having to come over here and pick up the pieces.
I've come to think of Wisbech as the black hole of the fens. I couldn't even find a place to stay there for quite a while; all the B&B's I emailed wouldn't answer my emails. I finally ended up making reservations at some expensive hotel -- the only one there -- but at least I have a place to stay. I think. If I can get there.
I figured out that Peterborough is 18 miles from Wisbech, and King's Lynn is 13, and Ely is 10. I'm right now over by King's Cross station in London. I'm going to take the train to Ely, and then see if I can get a taxi to Wisbech. Surely so.
And then later next week, I'm going to take a taxi to Peterborough, and catch a train to Northampton, because if you go by way of Ely you have to take the train all the way back to London and change.
Oh, how low the mighty have fallen! Breaks my heart. This is where they invented the train system. But you can't get there from here, or just about anywhere, in fact, any more.
I will post later on tomorrow, and tell you if I made it to Wisbech. Unless I'm lost in the fens. But hey! Don't worry! The eels are gone! The Dutch came and cleared them out in the late 17th century!
And tomorrow I go to Wisbech.
Now, as promised, I'm going to tell you about Wisbech. In fact, I believe I'll tell you a lot about Wisbech.
No, wait, better not. Until this book's actually done, I better watch it.
So I'm not going to tell you ALL about Wisbech. I believe I will not tell you several stories I have about the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, and various things they have done to me. On that subject, let me just say that they happen to hold two of the most important manuscripts in my collection. So I must deal with them. And let's just say they don't make it easy.
But instead of talking about the Wisbech museum, why don't I just explain about Wisbech. Which is just like the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, only without walls.
Wisbech is about 10 miles vaguely north of Ely. In the middle ages, before the fens were drained, it was in the middle -- this was marsh country, full of eels. (Hence the name of the city of Ely -- it was on an island, surrounded by eels.) Up until the high middle ages, Wisbech was a thriving port town. Then the water got diverted, when the Bishop of Chichester built a new channel that took the water to what's now King's Lynn (in Wisbech they still bitch about this). But later -- that is, in the 14th century -- the bishop of Ely built another water channel, and the water came back. Then they were important again for a while. Now they're not. I believe history has given them a complex.
Wisbech is important to me because they had a bunch of musicians living there in the late middle ages and on into the 17th century, and also they had players. They were a happening town. At that time. As I say.
So. Because of my work, I must go there and look at manuscripts -- account books that record payments to some of these musicians and actors.
Fine.
But you can't get there from here. Back when I was living in Cambridge for a while, doing this research, I would take the train to King's Lynn and then a bus to Wisbech. But you can't take my big suitcase onto the bus, apparently. And there are no trains. There used to be trains, but now there aren't any trains.
I googled about this for a while, and kept coming up with horror stories. Apparently it happens a lot to people that they take the train into Peterborough or King's Lynn, and they can't get anywhere, and they're stuck, and they're supposed to be in Norwich or some such, and then taxis take them to Wisbech and they get stuck at some industrial park. It's very scary, apparently.
For a while I toyed with the idea of renting a car. I thought about this a lot, in my idle moments, trying to visualize driving on the other side of the road. But it's not really a good idea. (If you've not been reading this blog long, I refer you here, for a picture of what me in the car trying to follow directions is like. In America. Where we drive on the side of the road I was trained to drive on, having learned to drive there.) I had lovely little emails from my beloveds back home, making calm arguments against the idea. They were really very circumspect; it wasn't until I told everybody that I'd realized it was a very bad idea that they all broke down -- their emails were nearly weeping from relief. They were not looking forward to having to come over here and pick up the pieces.
I've come to think of Wisbech as the black hole of the fens. I couldn't even find a place to stay there for quite a while; all the B&B's I emailed wouldn't answer my emails. I finally ended up making reservations at some expensive hotel -- the only one there -- but at least I have a place to stay. I think. If I can get there.
I figured out that Peterborough is 18 miles from Wisbech, and King's Lynn is 13, and Ely is 10. I'm right now over by King's Cross station in London. I'm going to take the train to Ely, and then see if I can get a taxi to Wisbech. Surely so.
And then later next week, I'm going to take a taxi to Peterborough, and catch a train to Northampton, because if you go by way of Ely you have to take the train all the way back to London and change.
Oh, how low the mighty have fallen! Breaks my heart. This is where they invented the train system. But you can't get there from here, or just about anywhere, in fact, any more.
I will post later on tomorrow, and tell you if I made it to Wisbech. Unless I'm lost in the fens. But hey! Don't worry! The eels are gone! The Dutch came and cleared them out in the late 17th century!
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