IanI have been browsing through local FaceBook groups, as you do, to see what is happening in our wonderful town. What I found shocked me. The sheer amount of negative things that local posters say about the town is incredible and makes me feel very sad. All I see is people saying the town is a disgrace, it is a mess, the grass hasn’t been cut, the council are doing nothing, why do I pay my council tax? I actually have heard people saying they are embarrassed by the state of the town! Whilst I understand why people are complaining, it seems that all we can do these days is moan.
There is some hope. Several groups have got together to weed their roads, tidy up their alleyways and collect litter. What a wonderful positive view these people have. They don’t expect everything to be done for them, they take it upon themselves to build pride in their area. I think it’s wonderful. Apart from cleaning their area, it engenders a feeling of community. Also, by doing these things, they make it plain to the council that work is not getting done and I am sure, if handled correctly, support would come their way where possible.
Negativity is a killer. It is much more destructive than litter or weeds. It reminds me of a cartoon I saw recently, which I post below.
We need to feed positivity or we become worn down. There are so many things that are good in the town but the negativity fails to remind us of that. It is easy to think of all the bad things like vandalism, litter and weeds. Those of us who were born and raised in a large city certainly appreciate the town. The area I was born is now one of the worst areas for knife crime in Manchester. I will live here thankyou!
So let’s think of the positive things. The view across our wonderful bay. Walking through our lovely parks. Those of us living in Bare are lucky enough to have a wonderful shopping street in the Crescent. We can stop and chat (socially distanced of course). We have 3 wonderful pubs who have worked really hard to keep going through the worst of this pandemic. We have a new wine bar. our cafes are starting to open and life is slowly beginning to return to normal. It’s all good.
Finally, to those detractors who insist we are all doomed and nothing is being done, I am reminded of a Sting concert that he did at his villa in Tuscany. He had been working with a group of world renowned musicians for several months for this concert. On the eve of the concert, 9/11 happened. Some of the musicians were from the USA but all felt the pain. It was touch and go that the concert would go ahead but all the musicians agreed that it should. The phrase that did it for me was ‘They can’t take away our joy!’.
