³⁰ Hardy strongly associated London with practicality. In the Life and Work he wrote: ‘Hardy used to relate humorously that on the afternoon of his arrival he called to inquire for lodgings at a house where was employed a bachelor some ten years older than himself, whose cousin Hardy had known. This acquaintance, looking him up and down, was sceptical about his establishing himself in London. “Wait till you have walked the streets a few weeks”, he said satirically, “and your elbows begin to shine, and the hems of your trousers get frayed, as if nibbled by rats! Only practical men are wanted here” ‘ (p. 40).