I don’t usually like to write follow up posts, but today I feel that I have to.
The last couple of days on this little corner of the internet have been crazy, but completely inspiring. You might have seen the article I shared on Thursday: a guest post from London based writer Paul Breen, who shared his thoughts on a recent visit to my home town of Middlesbrough.
Since the post appeared, my phone has been buzzing constantly with message alerts, emails and blog comments. It’s been picked up by the local paper and so far has been read by over 20,000 people. That’s a huge amount of traffic for a modest blog like this one.
The article has really resonated with people here and it’s been such a positive experience to read the comments left by those who are so happy to see their beloved town get the recognition it deserves. It reminds me why blogging can be such a fantastic thing.
All this excitement has left me feeling a little overwhelmed. But most of all, I’m feeling incredibly grateful to be from a place that inspires such passion and loyalty from its residents, whether they’ve lived here all their lives, or moved away decades ago.
I’ve written a lot over the last couple of years about why I love this small town in Europe, but this week has made me realise that most of all it’s about the people: the self-deprecating, friendly, passionate people, who handle all the negative comments about their town with a wry and knowing smile. After all, we don’t want to let those Southerners know how great the Boro is, or they’d all want to come up here!
So thank you to everyone who took the time to read Paul’s blog post, to share it and to reply.
Let’s keep on showing the world that our town is something worth talking about.