It came along for the ride
There have been a lot of changes in this area, over the years. If my grandfather, or my father were to return, they would have a lot of questions, I imagine. One of the biggest would be about the absence of schools, and children.
My my calculation, schools used to be place about every few miles. Now, you ave to travel for close to thirty minutes to find a school. The bus rules. This is the weekend that schools close for the summer, and yet there are no children playing outside, on the single road that passes nearby.
I guess I have less neighbours than before. I know this, because the woman from down at the end of the lane has come up from away, for the summer. The man next door is back from the south. The traffic is increased, as the tourists roll on by to wherever they end up, after their high speed race to get parked.
Some things are less important, but I do like to think that there are people in the area. I have kept my landline just in case, fully aware that flagging down help is the thing of old books.
We were looking at a small pile of local history books, off to find new shelves, and I realized that there will be less material for authors, unless they are into fiction. Hard to write history when the farms are now gone. The old house, the livestock, the to and fro of local folks. All part of a past, with less interest.
I will carry on learning, but the questions from others in my area will diminish. I might feel like an expert, but if no other person cares, it gets to be a lonely view of the world.
In a box, today, I found an old antenna. I had forgotten that it came along for our big move, because this was replaced technology. Now I have to figure out how you dispose of a pile of tubes and associated connections.
