England - Thirsk, Town Clock

As stated in earlier posts at the beginning of this series, it has been a bucket list item for decades to visit "Herriot Country" and trod the same territory as did Alf Wight during his legendary career.  I say "legendary" career, whereas actually his storytelling was what was legendary in an otherwise ordinary successful practice.  Anyone desiring to be a writer would do well to study his approach to writing and his extraordinary dedication to the craft.  And not to be forgotten is his wife, who challenged him to dig his finished manuscripts out of a drawer after innumerable rejections.  Though his life began just over a hundred years ago, in 1916, and his stories emerged from this very town almost eighty years ago, in 1940, the totality of his life still remains an inspiration to me and millions of others.

At times, from that chapter and others, I will include here a few very short snippets that point to what you see in the pictures posted, more/less in the order described, starting here with Dr. Wight's impressions of what he saw in the town square for the first time:

"The only visible sign of life was a group of old men sitting round the clock tower in the centre of the square, but they might have been carved from stone." (Chapter 2)