Well, that's Wednesday done with- the clock has just chimed the hour. ( Well, whined more than chimed, the battery needs replacing.) Today, or rather yesterday was -well- Wednesday-the middle of the week. It was a typical day in that it was middling boring-nothing that couldn't be coped with.
Although to tell the truth, there was some excitement. I went out and had a look at the newly re-decorated community resource centre. It provides space for a coffee shop, that also sells bric-a-brac, books and suchlike.
And more importantly, it provides various education courses for the people of this village. This place is like many other settlements the whole world over. It was formerly a coal-mining community- a " pit-village ". Its whole reason for its existing was for the mining of coal. Before the pit was here, there were only a number of farms.
For about 90 years the pit brought prosperity to its owners and a kind of living to the folk that were employed in servicing the pit and its workers.
Then in in the 1990's it was decided, by the Government of the day, that Coal was no longer the fuel of choice. So they instigated a closure programme for practically all of the collieries in the British Isles.
With a speed that was alarming the industry changed from being a major employer to being part of " our heritage ".
Of course, not only did all the colliery workers get thrown out of work but all the associated industries lost the majority of its trade and with it came more unemployment.
And did the Government plan for anything to replace this loss? It did not. It crowed loudly that the " free market " will provide a suitable replacement, And the " free market " did provide a replacement, in the shape of drug-pushers all dedicated to giving a " little something-something" to those souls enterprising enough to thieve goods and money from others so that they might find some kind of chemically induced peace...
Hmm...
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