Unusually, I was down in the village twice today during the day. We don't have to go through the village to get home, so under normal circumstances we only see it in the evening or at weekends, when it is an altogether busier place. I was quietly stunned by the fact that people talked to each other on the street, and meandered in and out of the shops. I was caught for a ten minute chat by the mother of one of Mouse's primary school friends, and it was actually rather nice to hear about how he's getting on at a different high school from Mouse. I shouldn't think Mouse has thought twice about him for two or three years, but I used to chat to his Mum all the time at school functions and Sunday morning rugby practices…
The village felt like a village, whereas usually it feels like a thoroughfare or a means to an end.
Recently there have been quite a few efforts to make the place look better – there are now planters at all the road entrances (there are four) although they haven't yet been filled, and they have 'Welcome' notices next to them. The war memorial has been cleaned up, and the park at the top has had some landscaping done. It's just a shame that the main entrance to the village is dominated by a half-burnt-out shell of a building, that cannot be demolished because it is owned by a property developer who claim that they are going to develop (sometime in the future, plans available behind the third filing cabinet in the (locked) basement).
