The Ballad of Your Home Town

The BBC's GetWriting Competition is inviting people to write a ballad about their home town with the following criteria:

In under 250 words, write The Ballad of Your Home Town. Okay, what does this
mean?

• 'under 250 words' - use a word count programme
• 'write' - create an original, unpublished piece
• 'ballad' - a narrative poem (it tells a story)
• 'your home town' - you really should have lived there at some point,
  maybe even now
• Entries must be received by noon on 31st December 2004. We will
  shortlist in regional blocks to put together our lyrical map of the UK.
• Final judging will be based solely on quality, and not on region.

So there you go - perfect opportunity for us to big up the 'ton yeah?

My reasons...

Hills. I love that Luton is surrounded by hills - you're never far from somewhere you can escape. Plus, I love heights and looking down on things from a different perspective - I miss being able to sit up high, and just watch the world continue.

Community. I suppose most have this in their town, however it seems a little different in Luton. Most people I talk to don't have the same background of friendships and people they know. *shrugs* That's just personal opinion.

Green spaces. There seem so many! Wardown, Stockwood, Wigmore, Stopsley, Pope's Meadow, and many more. Good memories of relaxing in parks with various people. Also, being taken to various playgrounds when little :)

As Tim said, it's not that I don't see its bad bits - they just don't affect my opinions. Instead, I love it more for its shining moments.

love is....

had a few thoughts.

Loving is harder than hating.

loving something means you hate all the bad bits but push on through the mess, hating means you hate the bad bits and miss out on all the good bits.

You don't get anything back from loving something.

whatever you think of something you feel better loving it than hating it.