Incomers have a big impact on small communities – for good or bad
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The Postie Notes by Mark Gilbert
What a year that was. Goodbye 2020, and good riddance!
As a lifelong observer of human behaviour, I think 2020 showed me a different side of humanity, and although it had its highs, it had some really low lows.
Although I thrive on interaction with people, I have always considered myself quite a loner and even though I was married for 38 years before the love of my life Susan died (we were together from around seven years of age), I would still have classed myself as someone who could also flourish with just my own company.
Over my lifetime I have gathered a small number of people I consider to be close and true friends. I do miss people when I don’t see them, but definitely don’t need other folk around all the time.
I have always worked in service type industries, so the opportunity to people watch has been vast and has given me an inbuilt radar to usually be able to work out who the good people are and, of course, to also detect the bad guys, chancers, selfish people, bullies, possibly dangerous people, and other general troublemakers, who don’t fit into the previous categories.
I have trusted people over the years and have sometimes been let down by people who take kindness as a weakness or have what I call a one-way street approach, where they only take and never give.
So, I have had a motto of my own that I use as a default setting: “I trust everyone until they disappoint me.”
This motto has been useful to me because I have moved around quite often over the years and so had to make new friendships and relationships with many and various people. This has made me a bit of a chameleon really, because mainly I have had to adapt and blend quickly into new regimes and social circles.
Adapting to new surroundings in big towns and cities is much easier, because generally nobody notices you and people come and go so often, they don’t usually have the time to make any impact.
But all that is different in the small communities where I now stay, so incomers can very swiftly change the local dynamic, either for good or for bad.
The dynamic can also be affected by people moving out of the area, but the passing of good local people, “Worthies”, has the biggest impact. They leave behind their historical recollections, passed on in conversations and gatherings, and they leave behind our grief for their loss.
Sadly, I lost four of the nicest people I have met during my life in 2020, which is why I say “Good riddance to 2020”, just leave us with warm memories of good people and good deeds and let's just tolerate the rest.
Pete and myself wish you all a Happy New Year.
- Mark Gilbert works as a postman in Bettyhill.
