Castle Aching

[alastairq]

I've lived in villages [of varying sizes and distances from ''beaten tracks''] since the late 1970's.

 

The first 5 years after leaving 'home' [such as it was] age 15 and 3/4s, I was 'at sea', so didn't really have a 'home' to return to, despite the odd renting of rooms via a friendly London landlord.  When I left [abandoned?] the sea-going career thing, I rented [from same landlord] a bedsit in Brockley Rise, Lunnon...handy, as I drove buses for LT out of New Cross depot at the time. [income, IE needs must when the devil rides]....Living alone in London in those days could be parochial, to a degree. But only if one didn't have a London Transport staff pass.

 

But eventually I asked myself, WTF was I doing living in such a grotty place as London, when , every opportunity, I was jumping into my car [an AH SPrite!] adn driving as far out & away as possible....Kent was a bit of a 'dead-end' as one couldn't go much further due to the English Channel. Surrey & Sussex were no-go areas on my income..the road signs encouraged me to drive on through and out the other side.

I ended up in Yarkshire, the east side, after a couple of years....living in seaside towns....

But, after my first divorce [I was to become good at it]....I moved to a nearby village. Actually, a Roman centre for trade & transport..although subsequently, eventually, bypassed because the local canal ran out of money about 7 miles away.

I bought a cottage suitable for a singly..the village had 'everything'...couple fo country pubs, fish n chip shop [3 nights a week]...small 'supermarket' of what was known as the Mace variety....a small village store , Post office, antique shop, you name it, the village had it.

Then, one by one, these trading emporia closed down.

I moved to another village not far away [bigger house needed]....just a PO/shop sort of affair, and a pub that sold sweets & pop to the local kids [saved them lurking in the phone box?]

The next village was a bit bigger, but strung out, so a trip to the shops was a bit of a hike.....2nd divorce out of the way by then as well.

After that, a really rural house....no more than 5 neighbours within 1/4 mile!! Plus, a school! 

 

After that I went renting.....moved to a biggish village with 2 pubs, fish n chips, and half a shop [now no longer].....but slap bang on a main road...

Then, having been slung out [downside of renting]....I am where I am now. No shop [one and a bit miles walk down a lane to nearest garage/shop]..no buses any more, lots of huge tractors pass by [or, maybe, the same one a dozen times a day??}

 

Parish council chair tried to get me to put my name on a 'list' of those with all-weather transport....I efused, but reminded them all, that all they had to do was to knock on my door...as they already knew [took older farts to doctors, shopping, etc, already....no problem to me, but not something I put about...]

I don't like being on 'lists'....smacks of 'control' to me....obligation I oculd never refuse, if I had wanted to, etc etc.

 

We have an active village hall committee...I get leaflets posted through my door on occasions..but, attending Saturday coffee mornings? I'd rather eat my head, thanks!

Lots of local dog walkers pass by my gate, and will often stop for a chat if I'm outside..i don't shun them, but they like my old cars....I have decent neighbours, I suppose....although again, I help if I can, but don't put myself about...

I get eggs left on my doorstep.   I fetched bags of local milled flour during the early days of lockdown....simply because, I could.

 

LAndlord leaves me a bottle of wine and biccies at Xmas....and local tree surgeon [who I helped out with transport a couple of years ago]...leaves me the odd tree when he thinks my stack of drying logs is getting low...

 

All in all, suits me...

 

But my point is, many, many villages are no longer what they were, IE idyllic, self-contained communities.

 

 The first village I mentioned only  has  a garage business left....and when the owner karks it, that too, will doubtless go.

These days, a lot of villages are simply glorified rural equivalents to the urban housing estate.....Folk travel [by car] outwards for all their needs.

Villages [round here, at any rate] are no longer so inward- looking.   

Village farms have been split up....now residential [I have three acknowledged 'millionaires' living just up or down the road from mine...One family I know nowt about, mostly they lock themselves behind their high, ex-farm walls and electric gates...The others stop & chat [and admire my old cars when they're outside]....but there doesn't seem to be any 'side' to any of the villagers I meet.

Maybe being known as an opinionated old fart helps?

 

[Nearholmer]

29 minutes ago, alastairq said:

But my point is, many, many villages are no longer what they were, IE idyllic, self-contained communities.

For self-contained’ read ‘insular’, and for ‘idyllic’ read ‘stifling, lacking in opportunity, and impoverished for 9/10 residents’ in all too many cases. People got on their bikes and pedalled away, seldom to return, for good reason in many cases.

 

A lot depends on individual taste of course, but I think there’s a sort of ‘happy medium’ size where a settlement becomes populous enough to support a fair range of trade and social activity, but not big enough to tip over into acquiring too many dark characteristics. Being a long way from London makes a difference too (positive or negative, can go either way) because that mostly removes the prosperous commuter affect (pushes up housing costs, but brings discretionary spending power and more trade). Hefty tourism can go either way too.

 

Some of the better small towns I’ve seen have been in Ireland, Listowel being a good one, vibrant, but not swamped by tourism, and “slightly backwater” France. I reckon a bookshop is a mark of something in a town. In mid/north Wales, some of the towns look to me a tad lacking in prosperity, the north of England and Scotland I don’t know.

 

 

[ianathompson]

3 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Or being mown down by spinsters cycling to matins through the morning mist! 

 

I'm impressed that the local church has a mattins.

I grew up singing it every Sunday.

It is so rare now that I can remember the last time that I sung it: five years ago in Rochester Cathedral.

Even then it was a prelude to Eucharist and we were informed that (insert name of long cathedral anthem) could not be sung because it would over run the service schedule.

 

Ian T

[rocor]

17 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Rabbits and rats might both be rodents, but they're a world apart. 

Rabbits are useful creatures.

If you've seen what Leptospirosis (Weil's disease) amongst the other diseases rats can carry, does to other animals and humans, you'd have no qualms about gassing rats.

 

Pedant alert!!!

 

Rabbits are not members of the order Rodentia, but that of Lagomorpha.

 

I will collect my coat on the way out.

[rocor]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 I’m not at all sure I’d like to live in a “proper village”, because the amount of beakiness, small-mindedness, and cliqueing in the places I have lived has sometimes begun to border on intrusive, but stayed just the right side of the line, and I’d fear that in a “proper village” the line might sometimes be crossed.

 

 

I cannot see that could be any problems living in a "proper village".

 

 

[MrWolf]

45 minutes ago, rocor said:

 

Pedant alert!!!

 

Rabbits are not members of the order Rodentia, but that of Lagomorpha.

 

I will collect my coat on the way out.

 

Surely you mean "anorak that smells of chip fat" if you were a true pedant? 😉

[MrWolf]

We're a very long way from London, but it doesn't stop the prosperous commuter effect, plus we're well into second home and holiday lets territory. 

One reason why people leave rural communities is because unless they land a highly paid job, they can't afford a property where they grew up. 

That was certainly my case.

[alastairq]

50 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

they can't afford a property where they grew up. 

 In my case the simple answer was, to never grow up...

[CKPR]

Talking of village shops and the presence or otherwise of book shops, our local shop & PO sells amongst other reading matter, five different farming weeklies , several  classic tractor & farm machinery mags, 'Kerrang!' and MRJ. 

Edited April 8, 2022 by CKPR

[alastairq]

1 hour ago, ianathompson said:

 

I'm impressed that the local church has a mattins.

I grew up singing it every Sunday.

It is so rare now that I can remember the last time that I sung it: five years ago in Rochester Cathedral.

Even then it was a prelude to Eucharist and we were informed that (insert name of long cathedral anthem) could not be sung because it would over run the service schedule.

 

Ian T

 Now, I am not an adherent of any religion, but I respect those that do.

However, I notice our social media-ridden society has quickly become a society of immense hypocrisy.

 

In that, if every user of social media who ''uttered'' or ''exclaimed,'' OMG,  were to actually attend church of a Sunday, then our churches would be full to brimming two or three times  a day!

There would be no such thing as 'falling congregations'....

 

So, why do they exclaim OMG?

 

When it is also apparent they actually ''have no god?''

[alastairq]

My village receives a Travelling Library....Does that count?

[Nearholmer]

As a religion?  I don’t think so.

[rocor]

7 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

As a religion?  I don’t think so.

 

If the library only consists of four books, then maybe. Unfortunately, none of those seem to concern themselves with model railways.

[Nearholmer]

You might be right.

 

I suppose the old system of personal library cards, those little slip-cards that were transferred to a long rack, and the stamping of the return date, all conducted in silence, had a certain liturgical quality to it too.

[TT-Pete]

22 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

Thankfully we haven't had that problem here, though there are some about.

 

Rabbits? Rabbits! You should see the damage these b*ggers do!:

 

This picture was taken sitting on the sofa looking out of the sitting room window, the deer is about 20ft away

 

We get all sorts of wildlife in the garden, which the cats find very interesting:

 

This one is titled "I have invited a friend around for dinner..."

[TT-Pete]

10 hours ago, Edwardian said:

spinsters cycling to matins through the morning mist! 

 

Something like this?

[Annie]

6 hours ago, alastairq said:

My village receives a Travelling Library....Does that count?

The town where I grew up had a travelling library.  It was in a sizeable coachbuilt trailer that was towed to various sites around the town and parked for the day with a librarian in attendance.  It was a great service and I can remember walking up the road with my Mum to the travelling library on the days when it was there.  No prizes for guessing though that it got done away with before too long which was a real pity as it was a great service for older folk and people who couldn't easily get to the central library building attached to the county council offices.

[rocor]

16 hours ago, TT-Pete said:

 

Something like this?

 

There could be thousands of the blighters pedaling away out there.

[Nearholmer]

As the rising sun slowly burned-off the mist that was cloaking the valley, Carruthers caught a faint sound, a whirring, ticking sound, at once gentle and somehow ominous in its incessance. Then, as the first tears began to appear in the veil, and as the last tatters dispersed in the rising breeze, he knew for certain. Around him, pedalling with rhythmic determination circled The Spinsters; not a small band as might come from one village, or even a County Set, but thousands upon thousands of them, perhaps the entire Spinster Nation, moving as one great, slow whirlpool around the base of the knoll upon which his cottage stood. Of a sudden, and under no command that he could discern, the whirling ceased, each spinster swinging her machine to face toward him, all coming to a silent halt with not a bullet’s breadth between the adjacent tweed-clad shoulders. Carruthers stood firm, feet planted, shoulders back. He swallowed hard, passed his right hand across his brow, and summoning all his courage he spoke, the tremor in his voice betraying him despite his sternest efforts: “You will have come about the donation to the church roof fund, I expect.”.

[Northroader]

 

Next council meeting, tell them they ought to have a “fairy tree”. They’ll go away and stop pestering you.

[jcredfer]

29 minutes ago, Northroader said:

 

Next council meeting, tell them they ought to have a “fairy tree”. They’ll go away and stop pestering you.

 

Seems to work then...   😊

 

[TT-Pete]

9 hours ago, Northroader said:

Next council meeting, tell them they ought to have a “fairy tree”. They’ll go away and stop pestering you.

 

Apologies in advance for the bad language, but bear with, there is a very tenuous railway connection at 5:45

 

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by TT-Pete

[CKPR]

10 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

As the rising sun slowly burned-off the mist that was cloaking the valley, Carruthers caught a faint sound, a whirring, ticking sound, at once gentle and somehow ominous in its incessance. Then, as the first tears began to appear in the veil, and as the last tatters dispersed in the rising breeze, he knew for certain. Around him, pedalling with rhythmic determination circled The Spinsters; not a small band as might come from one village, or even a County Set, but thousands upon thousands of them, perhaps the entire Spinster Nation, moving as one great, slow whirlpool around the base of the knoll upon which his cottage stood. Of a sudden, and under no command that he could discern, the whirling ceased, each spinster swinging her machine to face toward him, all coming to a silent halt with not a bullet’s breadth between the adjacent tweed-clad shoulders. Carruthers stood firm, feet planted, shoulders back. He swallowed hard, passed his right hand across his brow, and summoning all his courage he spoke, the tremor in his voice betraying him despite his sternest efforts: “You will have come about the donation to the church roof fund, I expect.”.

Looks like another lost story by Arthur Machen has resurfaced - excellent ! 

[MrWolf]

It sounds like an excerpt from Wide World Magazine.

 

Spiffing!

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by MrWolf
Stupid autocorrect

[monkeysarefun]

13 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

As the rising sun slowly burned-off the mist that was cloaking the valley, Carruthers caught a faint sound, a whirring, ticking sound, at once gentle and somehow ominous in its incessance. Then, as the first tears began to appear in the veil, and as the last tatters dispersed in the rising breeze, he knew for certain. Around him, pedalling with rhythmic determination circled The Spinsters; not a small band as might come from one village, or even a County Set, but thousands upon thousands of them, perhaps the entire Spinster Nation, moving as one great, slow whirlpool around the base of the knoll upon which his cottage stood. Of a sudden, and under no command that he could discern, the whirling ceased, each spinster swinging her machine to face toward him, all coming to a silent halt with not a bullet’s breadth between the adjacent tweed-clad shoulders. Carruthers stood firm, feet planted, shoulders back. He swallowed hard, passed his right hand across his brow, and summoning all his courage he spoke, the tremor in his voice betraying him despite his sternest efforts: “You will have come about the donation to the church roof fund, I expect.”.

Sadly, if the daily  online whinge about the previous days Wordle word is any indication at least half of the  words you used are very tricky and  would be a complete mystery to today's person on the street.

 

Here for instance is the latest  reaction,  to 'foray'. Similar whingy outrage stories have appeared after 'caulk', 'rupee', 'natal' and 'bloke'...

 

"Foray—Wordle fans are distraught by tricky challenge

 

The word 'foray' confused many Wordle players who struggled to guess the latest tricky word

 

The word 'foray' has infuriated Wordle players as many swear off the game for good. 

 

Wordle has been known to throw a few curveballs at players and put words such as 'lowly' and 'natal' as answers for the daily word game, and Wordle 292 was one again, another infuriating challenge.

The word 'foray' has totally stumped players on April 7, with many only managing to guess the word after a 'trial and error' process with their guessing. Fans are infuriated and have taken to social media to share their disappointment as many lose their winning streaks and swear off the game.

 

Wordle 292 X/6 This is the worst day of my life," said one player who failed to guess the word correctly. 

Other players were insistent that foray was in fact not a word. "Wordle is such a scam what kind of word is foray," said one player.

"Wordle 292 4/6 #Wordle292 Trial and error really. I can truly say I have never heard, read or used this word in my life," added another.

"Wordle really has the audacity to put the word 'Foray' like any regular person knows what it means or if it even existed," said another fan."

 

 

Would not be a problem in NZ, since it is often used, such as..

Q.."How many sheep dogs you got, cuz?"

 

A..  "I've got foray!"

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by monkeysarefun