It's kind of funny, today, reading a Thomas Hardy novel. Everything takes place in that same part of the country, and all of those old structures existed at the time--especially the roads--but the characters seem to go on about their business without taking much notice of them. Like they are mountains, or outcroppings, or something of nature.

                      I recently re-read "The Return of the Native," and that whole aspect of the thing struck me as odd. Though I don't think it did when I first read the book many years ago.