When I bought my first home here (in 1972, aged 25), our corner of the village was as close to perfect as one could hope. Our delightful neighbours leant over backwards to be of help (we attempted to do the same for them), and the general atmosphere was one of calm and tranquility. It was everything I had sought for my burgeoning family to grow and flourish. A bucolic haven fit for the most discerning.
This continued until just a few years ago, when a different atmosphere began to infiltrate the calm of our tiny hamlet. These were newcomers who seemed to care very little for country ways, and, in some cases, even the ways of acceptable behaviour.
It's very sad when one has to inform new neighbours that they have become personae non gratae because of their bad behaviour, but occasionally one simply has no other option.
An area can either change for the better or for the worse; but change it will, and to try to regain that calm of the past is impossible. Once lost, there's no going back. Maybe 46 years in the same place is too long.
We now have to cherish those traditions which have remained much the same. In our 46 year residency, it would be naive to think that nothing would change; maybe we should have changed with it, but, frankly, stooping down to that level has never been an option.
More and more, I find myself looking back to earlier times when our community really was a 'community'. Sadly it's now only memories. From May to September it was all go, and everyone mucked-in together to bring in the hay, or pick grapes; and later to gather chestnuts. None of this now happens. In 1972 some of our neighbours were still ploughing with Oxen.
To make matters worse, with the ghastly shipping containers having been dumped at the new 'holiday village' behind us, a slight depression temporarily blanketed our little hamlet. What was simply a project has now become reality, and yet another part of our tranquility has been taken away.
I shall remain my quiet, happy, and hermit-like self, and treat any trifling bad atmosphere as no more than an 'inconvenience'. All I have to do is to sit back and look at the beauty of my surroundings, and my spirits are instantly lifted.
To be able to wallow in nostalgia is a privilege that only comes with age. I expect most of the world has changed in the same manner as that of your hamlet. Treasure the memories and take advantage of some really good things that weren't around 46 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThat's our only option. Make the best of things.
Delete...and plant a hedge of tall trees to hide the awful containers.
DeleteYou've found the right solution. I would do the same.
ReplyDeleteWe've had the best years of the area; nothing lasts.
DeleteI mourn the same things Cro, feeling sad when I witness the love of materialism over community. We still see it here on a smaller levels, farmers who help out when another is sick or dies, but overall it's pretty much every man for himself. So on Sundays when all the GK's and kids gather we enjoy all the produce we have, the livestock we tend, the food we cook and share. Oh, and sunflowers! just like yours.
ReplyDeleteSome agricultural camaraderie still exists, but nothing like how it was all those years ago.
DeleteNothing stays the same.
ReplyDeleteSadly. It all used to be so perfect.
DeleteI am 58 years old and my parents moved to where my father still lives 57 years ago, when I was just 18 months old. When I married, aged 22 we bought a house 8 houses away from my parents. It is a busy main road at the front but to the back of us, the south it was rolling fields as far as the eye could see. Now we are in the process of houses being built at the rear of our house. It's very upsetting. Yes they are are "executive" houses and yes they look quite nice. But oh my heart. I met a neighbour walking up the farm path behind us last year and she too has lived here 70 years. She was heartbroken. She said, "I know the land doesn't belong to me but I so belong to it"
ReplyDeleteThat's how I feel. People who have no emotional connection to a place make decisions that change our lives.
I wonder if getting older makes us less accepting of change?.
Bon courage, Cro.
Change for the better is always OK. Change for the worse is not. Certain changes we have reluctantly accepted as natural progression, but certain bits seem to have been imposed on us simply out of stupidity, and a lack of understanding. Tiny little hamlets, consisting of old stone houses, are typical of this area, and so many are being destroyed; they can never be brought back.
DeleteYou still have an idyllic lifestyle. You grow your own peaches, pears, apples, plums, greengages, various nuts plus keep yourselves supplied with vegetables year round. Delicious mushrooms are there for the taking. Wine is plentiful and cheap. The climate is good. Live in an area with wonderful foods. I am sure I have missed many things out.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, we have plenty to be grateful for, it's just a shame that certain quite important elements have now gone.
DeletePerhaps it is good to get it all off your chest and then we do have to count up the good things in life. I realize now how health can never be taken for granted yours, Lady M and the rest of your family are good. Enjoy a glass tonight and wake up to a new day tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThat's really all we CAN do. Others will come along and see today's situation as perfect, just as we saw it all those years ago.
DeleteThe grass is no greener anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteIt was certainly greener in the past; it's becoming a little beige these days.
DeleteYou need a holiday methinks x
DeleteI’m afraid it happens everywhere in varying degrees and, as we age, we look back to what we feel were better times...... and, the younger generation will do the same and will look back on these times and think they were better, containers et all !!! .... all part of life’s natural progression I suppose but, when we have known better times, it’s a bit hard to take. XXXX
ReplyDeleteYes, that's what I replied to Potty above. However, nostalgia is hard to ignore.
DeleteThe constant is change
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid that is so!
DeleteI Google-Earthed the area of Surrey where I was brought up recently, and I found new houses built everywhere - including the garden I grew up in. Memories are a retreat in the face of things you can do nothing about.
ReplyDeleteMy people always had reasonably large pleasant homes, with big gardens. I think every one of their gardens has since been built on. Quite depressing.
DeleteGrowth (?) is happening everywhere, sometimes for the good, sometimes not. I am sad to see many of the changes, but it is what it is. However, I, like you, get nostalgic for what once was (or how I remember it through rose colored glasses).
ReplyDeleteNothing too rose coloured here. For example, the man who's building the 'container holiday village' is only thinking of himself. His plans have almost single-handedly ruined our quiet little hamlet.
DeleteYou have the right attitude there Cro - there is so little we can do about these things it is better (unless it is absolutely unbearable) to ignore them and get on with living.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what we now do. No choice!
DeleteYou are so right Cro. In just 16 years, we have seen so many changes, and to be honest, most are not for the best. Some changes are because of the behaviour of expats - 'everyman's home is his castle' or 'I pay my taxes so I can do what I want' attitudes. Some is the liberal use of funding by central government eg changes to the village road, speed humps being put in unneccessarily, our school being closed then immediately being upgraded as a leisure centre with literally hundreds of thousands of euros being spent when that could have kept the school open. Still, life goes on...
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to be out to ruin everything. If it's not the neighbours, it's crazy government projects. We have one nearby village that has almost been destroyed by a crazy road narrowing project. I could go on.
DeleteUnfortunately Cro the whole world is going down the pan and we find ourselves thinking the same as you do. I just don't know what's the matter with people these days, they just don't give a stuff about anything. Our home and garden are a refuge from it all just like yours, like you say it's pointless fighting it all...stop the world, I want to go back to the 50s!
ReplyDelete