Local Blogger of the Week: Ruby in Bury

This is the first in a new series featuring great local bloggers from around Britain. This week I’m very excited to bring you an interview with Christina Surdhar, a.k.a. Ruby in Bury, who writes the wonderful blog Living in Bury St Edmunds.

How long have you been writing your blog?

Since November 2005.

What first got you started?

I’d just discovered blogs and was itching to write one. At the time, we’d just made a decision to move to York in a year’s time. I’d found my nine years living in Bury St Edmunds difficult, never quite settling in and that bugged me. I wanted to spend a year exploring it and getting to really know it, as well as explore my own relationship with the town. So I decided that’s what I’d blog about, and called the blog simply “Living in Bury St Edmunds.” The blog occupied me to the extent that we ended up not moving!

What are your favourite things about the area?

Its very subtle, but very distinctive character. It’s a quiet local culture here, and you really have to root it out, but it’s worth it. Suffolk humour is very deadpan, and the local folklore is fascinating. I also love the atmospheric nature of the countryside – mysterious and quiet with loads of lightning trees because it’s so flat.

What kinds of things do you tend to write about?

I concentrate mainly on the quirky, the unusual, and anything funny about life in Bury St Edmunds. Bury is a quirky town though, and really lends itself to that sort of approach. Photos have been a big part of the blog too and I’ve run several “series” of photos. My blog has in some ways been a reaction to the Bury’s prim side, and the fact that the town can sometimes take itself too seriously. Everyone knows that here, and have been very ready to laugh with me about it.

Has blogging changed your relationship with your local community? How?

Yes. I feel like I am a part of things here now – I guess I’ve fitted in through humour and through a fondness for the town shared with my readers, which has been great.

My blogger’s anonymity didn’t last long, particularly after I blogged I had a new pair of bright green crocs. Bury St Edmunds became a bit of a “spot Ruby”competition at that point – with my give-away big fat SLR camera round my neck too! I got spotted so many times, including on one memorable occasion by a fellow Northern lady on a bike who bellowed “Hey Ruby, you’re a top bird!” after me down the street. I had to stop wearing the crocs for a while.

Are there any other local bloggers you’d recommend?

Some of the inspiration for my own blog came from fellow Bury St Edmunds blogger, Bury Blue, who wrote Running in Suffolk (http://runningburyblue.blogspot.com). There are links to photos of just about every Suffolk village in his sidebar. A London blogger I like is Diamond Geezer, who combines humorous anecdotes with factual information (http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/). Another blogger I love reading is Fourpints (http://fourpints.com/) He writes with humour and sense of place, looking at the culture differences – and some similarities – between his hometown Bury St Edmunds and his adopted city of Detroit in the U.S.

Do you have any tips for writing a local blog?

The most popular local blogs always seem to have a strong personal element intertwined with any local information and reporting, which is useful to bear in mind. On the other hand, if you have a straight news reporting or factual local blog, it’s good to get in at an angle that the traditional media won’t or can’t. A local news journalist will have to get quotes from dignitaries and formal photos at an event, and report in the formulaic standard way. A local blogger can focus on the most interesting aspect of the proceedings, providing a man in the street viewpoint.

It’s worth mentioning too that I tend to have a “do as you would be done by” maxim for my own blogging. Before I hit the publish button, I always ask myself if I would be upset if someone wrote about me in a similar way. If I would, then I don’t go ahead.

You say on your blog that you’ll soon be leaving Bury St Edmunds for York. Will you be starting a new blog there?

Definitely. I’m not sure what angle I’ll blog York from yet, and will probably only know that once I’m there, but the relationship between people and place is one which fascinates me. Returning to my own home county of Yorkshire – which I have missed in so many ways – will give me plenty of blogging fodder, I’m sure. The new blog URL will be posted on Living in Bury St Edmunds when it’s launched.

So far, what’s been the best thing about writing your blog?

Friendships made through the blog are definitely the best thing about it.. The people who’ve been drawn to my blog, are on the whole people I have lots in common with, and its been great to find so many like-minded people out there. Some have become close friends. It’s also great getting emails from people all over the world with memories and anecdotes about Bury St Edmunds, I love getting those.

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Thanks Christina! We wish you all the best with your adventures in York and hope you’ll speak to us again when your new blog is underway.

(To find out more about Christina’s local area, visit the Localmouth pages for Bury St Edmunds)