One of four bands
Ground that keeps hours
Open, and open on somebody else's clock. The hours are the whole of the arrangement, and they are the thing most often out of date on the internet and correct on the gate.
The two we have written up
- Ground that keeps hoursA Cemetery That Locks at Dusk | DoorstoneThe only place in this book whose closing time is a condition rather than a number, which makes it the most misread gate in the city.
- Ground that keeps hoursAn Arboretum That Opens at Eight | DoorstoneOpen every day, on somebody's clock, and the clock is the entire arrangement. Turn up ten minutes early and you are standing outside a locked gate with a very good view through it.
Where this band sits
- Ground with nobody to askNo gate, no hours, nobody whose day you interrupt by being there. The commonest kind of half public ground in this city and the kind visitors trust least, because nothing tells them it is allowed.
- Ground that keeps hoursOpen, and open on somebody else's clock. The hours are the whole of the arrangement, and they are the thing most often out of date on the internet and correct on the gate.
- Ground that opens if you askA name in a book, a telephone call the week before, a person who says yes. Asking is not a formality here: it is the entire difference between welcome and trespass.
- Ground where the edge is all of itThe fence, the lane, the last public foot before the working part starts. Reading the edge as a refusal is a mistake; the edge is often the best seat in the place.