a love for basingstoke

Don’t laugh, because I know it’s what you want to do

But I have a love for the town in which I live.

It gets an awful rep from almost everyone

Despite the fact it has so much to give.

*

We have so many roundabouts

That even short drives tend to make you dizzy

And then there’s the famous Wote Street Willy,

A sculpture that is….well…..pretty?

*

Basingstoke is basically

A little London, but less cool.

If Hampshire were a royal crown

Then Basingstoke would surely be its jewel.

*

We have the pubs and clubs that London has

It’s just that ours all close at ten.

But once they’ve closed we have kebabs

Sold from greasy shops by Turkish men.

*

I’d say we have a lot of culture

But I think that everyone would know I’m lying,

A link to Pride and Prejudice

Is our attempt at really trying.

*

So next time you decide to slate

My favourite town called Basingstoke,

Think again, and give the place a bloody chance

And don’t just treat us like a joke.

I had plans to do a bit of travelling this year, even if it was just a few long weekends over to Europe. I have hardly seen any of Europe and now that my son is getting older, I think that he would appreciate some trips to places like Barcelona and Rome.

However, there has been a major spanner thrown in the works by that bloody virus. This means that any travel over the summer is beginning to look highly unlikely. It looks like I’m not really going to get out of my hometown of Basingstoke for a good few months.

But Basingstoke does get some flack as being a bit of a boring town. It has been referred to as Boringstoke (although I prefer to rename it Bas Vegas). I do understand the criticism it gets because most of the town centre and surrounding estates were built in the 1970’s as an over spill town to accommodate a growing London.

It is, therefore, a bit bland and characterless. But it is my home and I feel quite protective of it. So, I wrote this fun poem in defence of the town where I am going to live and apparently spend my summer holidays this year.

Basingstoke really is a great town. And yes, we do have a sculpture of a willy in the middle of one of our shopping streets (see dick pic).

Much Love

Rachel xx

26 thoughts on “a love for basingstoke”

  3. potatosandwich

    Nothing like a welcoming willy in the town centre.
    We stayed in Basingstoke over 10 years ago, it was a weekend hotel break. The hotel had a weekend conference going on. Large groups of people who had travelled from the US to share their passion for music in Sci-fi movies. We didn’t venture out too much but have made day trips from Kent to Basingstoke for kids footie matches.

    Reply

      1. Nick

        Crystal Palace Pool is wonderful too – I’m sure everyone has their places which are meaningful and which is there to reflect on.

  5. Greg Dennison

    Nice. 🙂 I know what you mean. Most of the places I’ve lived over the course of my life are generally looked down upon as boring. But I’d rather live here than somewhere trendy but trashy and unfriendly like New York or Los Angeles or Seattle or San Francisco.

    Reply

      1. Greg Dennison

        Good point. One of the four trendy but unfriendly cities I named above is within day trip distance of where I live now, so I’m not in the middle of nowhere. (I looked it up, I’m not quite as close to that city as Basingstoke is to London. But I am right next to another fairly large city in addition to being fairly close to one of those four.)

  12. Kiwi

    All of our travel plans this year has been put on hold. I am sad but hopefully things will turn around soon.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.