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In writing about Hitchin Cemetery a couple of people have asked if I knew of the literary connection with the place and I had to admit I didn't. But a quick Google informed me that (and this is typical Hitchin) Charles Dickens' eldest grandchild Mary Angela Dickens is buried there.
This gives me great hope of being the most famous person in the graveyard when the time comes.
Even with a good idea of where the grave was and a picture of it, I struggled to find Mary's name. It is right by the gate where I enter but it's shared with her cousin Margaret Alice Moule, who she lived with in Hitchin.
Mary's name is on the side. It's a modest burial for (at least for now) Hitchin's most famous dead person.
It's nice to get bits of info on the random graves I have been writing about, but Mary has a wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Angela_Dickens and you can see photos of her and buy her books (if you are prepared to pay the reprinting fees or can find one in a second hand book shop) and we know where she lived (without her writing it on her grave) and I was able to go past the house on the way home.
Is it weird to stalk someone nearly 80 years after they have died? No. It's normal. Is it weird to set up an AI version of Mary so I can talk with her about her life and flirt with her? Yes, that is a little bit weirder. For now. But soon everyone will be doing stuff like that.
It didn't feel weird to go and see where she lived, though it felt a bit strange to be taking a photo of the house which is now lived in (presumably) by people who have nothing to do with Dickens and might not even know about the history. I can't imagine many Dickens fans are making the trip to have a look at the house his granddaughter lived in for a bit. But I am not a fan of Dickens (apart from the Muppet Christmas Carol which you have to admit is his best work), I am a fan of trying to find out about the lives of people who died in Hitchin and were able to afford to pay for a gravestone.
I am not sure my devotion goes as far as actually reading her books - though if I can get that AI version set up she could be a guest on RHLSTP Book Club. And also on my chatting with AI sexbots podcast. Sometimes I think AI might be a bad thing.
