Change may be constant but stagnation is death

Sitting on a bench in the town centre the other day, I found myself in a long conversation with a chap I would judge to have been about 30 or 40 years younger than me. In retrospect, I find our views most interesting in the ways they diverged.

It soon became clear that my companion was almost as set in his opinions as I. It began with his comments on a large woman feeding her pushchair-confined infant a sugar-coated doughnut.

“They do it to keep their kids quiet,” he said. “They’re just storing trouble for the future.”

I had to agree. This is something we see all over the town every day.

“Mind you,” he went on, “what kind of future can they expect in a place like this?”

I wondered what he meant by “a place like this”.

“This town’s going to hell in a handcart – has been for years.

“The council don’t care, they just look out for themselves.

“All they’re concerned about is making money, building more and more houses without providing any infrastructure.

“They claim to be building up the town centre and all we get are charity shops, barbers and phone shops. What happened to their famous ‘cafe culture’? That soon died a death because there’s nowhere to park. And now they’re evicting people all over the place to make room for a so-called business park.”

I said I believed they were giving free parking at certain times. I wasn’t altogether sure I was on a winner here.

Mind you, I did compliment a traffic warden the other day as I watched him move slowly along a row of parked cars, sticking notices on their windscreens.

“No wonder,” I said to the warden, “that drivers complain about lack of parking. It seems that as soon as a space becomes free, someone claims it as his own and expects to stay there all day. And, doubtless you’ll get a load of abuse for doing your job and trying to free up spaces.”

The warden grinned wryly and nodded.

Back on the bench, it became increasingly clear that my companion was firmly set against any kind of change. He wanted the town to be the one he sees on Steve Salter’s ‘Remember When’ pages.

Although I complain quite often about the council’s doings, I believe they are generally heading in the right direction; stagnation is death.