First Post!

I've been sitting here for ten minutes trying to figure out how to start this thing, and I'm still no closer.  I'm terrible at introductions and I'm terrible at beginnings, so that's kind of a double whammy from the get go, in addition to making me great fun at parties and social gatherings.  The 'Hello, My name is Will Averill, and blah blah blah' intros seem like the false and stilted frame of AA meetings and those terrible Road to Management workshops where a tired and overpaid consultant spews golden nuggets of business wisdom like 'There is no I in team" and lunch is a strange brown thing wading uneasily in what appears to be gravy.

No--that's definitely not the way I want to start this.  I want this to be light and chummy, yet informative--the Blue Peter of Norwich Blog Introductions.  Hi!  I'm Will, my good friends call me Willie, which means something much, much dirtier in your country.  I like running, and theatre, and beer, though not necessarily in that order.  I'm married, and yet she still likes me, so I must be doing something right.  I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, in the United States, a fairly liberal university town in an otherwise conservative rural area.  I moved five years ago to Norwich, a fairly liberal university town in an otherwise conservative rural area.  It was, as you can imagine, a terrifying transition.  I moved to Norwich to be married to my lovely wife, because that is what two people do when they're young, in love, and trying to avoid the wrath of the Home Office.

See, this isn't so bad so far...

I work at a job for a bank, which pays the bills, and write, which does not.  I read books and do comedy shows.  I am left-handed, and I think that's kept me from realizing all my dreams.   I never make excuses, but the odds have been stacked against me since birth.  I'm proud to be American, but enjoy nothing more than being smug around American tourists cause they're so dumb.  I'm a big fan of my adopted home of Norwich and its history, most of which is buried under Chapelfield mall.  I find the Think! ad campaigns way over the top and am currently trying to devise a set of drinking game rules to them.  And finally I believe that just because you can add 'u''s to words, doesn't mean you should.

So that's me.  As for what I'm doing here?  As a transplant to the city of Norwich, I find myself constantly fascinated by the little things--signs, placards, people--that those who have lived here all their lives may take for granted.  I want to use this blog to explore some of the strange and weird history from Norwich's past, as well as looking at the current state of things, and failing those two, just goofing around.  So that's pretty much it.

Pleased to meetcha.