Real Newport by Ann Drysdale

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This book rejoices in the ordinary, a “guidebook” that the tourist board might not exactly sign up to, but the emphasis is on the “real” not the “airbrushed”. This is warts and all writing, but from an affectionate perspective, honest not critical.

Ann Drysdale writes with a witty charm, in the preface series editor Peter Finch describes it as “outbeat”, and I think I might have share an outbeat mind with Ann, as the slight flights of fancy that her mind takes her on as she encounters and describes the city seem very familiar to me.

I found something a little akin to Southampton, a city which I think is also uncertain about its identity. Southampton famed as the home port of great cruise liners, past and present, (as well as flying boats in their day). While vast numbers of tourists come to Southampton, their general intention is to past as quickly as possible through it to the beginning of their holiday, holding it with a similar affection as you might Terminal 2 at Heathrow. I often think the welcome signs on the city limits should declare “Southampton, the city people love to leave!”. While it is a great port, the city essentially has its back to the water – that city planners felt the need to rename of the High Street “QE2 Mile” is really one of those Orwellian proofs of the disconnection.

Interspersed throughout the book are Ann's poems, mostly written in response to past encounters with the city, evidence of an ongoing relationship, which add warmth of feeling in the book.