I
FEEL MYSELF RELAXING. It can't just be the
transition from coal measures to millstone grit that makes me feel I can breathe
more easily. As we drive up the hill towards
Emley we leave
Wakefield
Metropolitan
District and enter Kirklees. Housing developments
and motorway business parks are left behind;
the brick of our suburban fringe
gives
way to gritstone farms and walls; hedged-in arable gives way to stone-walled
pastures.
Back in hill country, even on this brief visit, I get an impression that there must be an alternative to the familiar rush of my day to day life.
I'm
surprised that
the little
village of Stocksmoor near Huddersfield, which we're visiting, still has its
own station. At Horbury Bridge we lost our station 40 years ago. Although in
the past 20 years they've built more new houses at Horbury Bridge than Stocksmoor
has
ever
had
there's
still
no
sign that
they'll ever re-open our station. I can't help thinking that some things would
be better if there was a boundary change and Kirklees annexed our outlying
corner of Wakefield
Met.