High Wycombe

High Wycombe once built Queen Victoria an arch out of chairs, then spent the 1960s burying its own river under concrete and running flyovers over the old town, which is about right for a place that was always better at making seats than sitting still. It is the part of the Chilterns that does the actual work, with the station, the shopping centres and the football club, while the villages up the hill keep the views and moan about the traffic coming through. Marlow and Beaconsfield get the postcards. Wycombe gets the fast train to Marylebone and the roundabouts.