Day: November 24, 2014

Visiting older friends

Since we came back in the area, I have wanted to visit some of the older folks I have known ever since I was a child. Most of these are now very elderly, and I haven’t seen them for years. But i used to see them very often, some of them daily when I was growing up. I used to go to their farm, or to help with the grape harvest. One is a widower. Things have changed, but these folks are still around.

During the holiday, we went to see an older farmer. He used to be our landlord, and next door neighbour. We used to go and get milk daily at the farm. he retired a long time ago and his son has given up farming, but he is still there. We just turned up after going for a walk. I introduced myself and he gave us a very warm welcome. It was great to see him. As we were there, some other visitors came and went.

On Friday, I went to visit another elderly couple. I was on my own this time, and did the same as I always used to do: turn up at the door, no need to warn you are coming. These people are like that. If they are around, they will stop what they are doing and offer you a cup of coffee and biscuits. We had a good time. Again, some people turned up when I was there. One was an elderly woman who was the grandmother of some school friends.

There’s at least one more person I want to go and see before going back and see the other ones. The village has changed, most local folks are now diluted amongst the newcomers, but they are still there. you just need to know where to look.

Public meeting with the local council

The local council is organizing meetings in various parts of the town to share some of their projects, but also meet the citizens and answer some of their questions. I was able to go to the one organized in the town hall on Saturday morning. The most interesting part of the meeting was listening to the various people’s concerns and questions.

Most were elderly folks. I was one of the younger ones. Their main concern was a feeling of insecurity. There are a few young people creating trouble around. Some garages and basements are regularly broken in, and they are noisy at night. It is a pain, and a very real problem, but as people talked, I realized that one reason for these is that there probably has never been any communication with these young people when they were children. If those older folks had shown interest in these young people and their families when they were children 15 or 20 years ago, maybe they could go and talk with them, and the situation would be easier.

Someone gave an interesting testimony. He had seen an older gentleman running after some young people, accusing them to have stolen his bike. He went to talk with them and explained that the man needed his bicycle, and that if they knew who had stolen the bike, they should give it back before the man goes to the police. One hour later, the bicycle was back.

But folks here are quite cold. I can say that because I am a local. People keep to themselves and a narrow circle of friends. They hardly know each other. They don’t talk to strangers. They don’t welcome new folks. While we were in Brittany, we felt we had a warm welcome from the local population. It took a few months, but after a while, it got easier and people were more open.

Here, the only people who have welcomed us and who have come to talk to us are ‘strangers’. They come from other parts of France. We are not unique. I was sharing about this with the headmistress recently. She is also from another region. She has also found that most of the people they have come to know as a family are not locals. Strange hey? No wonder a number of young people create trouble. Nobody ever showed interest in them in the first place.