Two tickets? I don’t need to go far this time of year. I’d just take a hop to the regional airport near the little island where I used to live on the coast of Maine. This time of year, it’s heaven.
The sailboats and lobster boats signal to the bridge keeper to open the bridge, the bells ring, the bridge grinds, and everyone proceeds through the “Gut” to the harbor side. Once again, the bells ring and the old bridge grinds a bit. In my day we were mostly locals, lobstermen, and such. The bridge was our only link to the mainland. We were also inured to the necessity of the bells, lights and grinding as the old bridge opened and closed.
Townie
I still get a newsletter from the local paper with highlights of local events. The wet-nosed kid of ten when I left is now chair of the local Board of Selectmen. That was a lot of growing up. For those of you “from away,” the Select Boards and Boards of Selectmen are the governments we elect to run our towns in New England. The meetings serve as a forum for us to conduct government business and discuss issues.
The Island store is still the place for gossip to be spread, and the swamp in the middle of town is still there.
But the old cabin I lived in has been torn down, and a”residential community” has been erected on its site. The town now has a Community Integrity Committee, a Community Preservation Committee, and a subcommittee dedicated to land use restrictions. The only friend I have nearby says that it’s mostly former “summer people” who have retired to the town who serve on them.
NIMBY
He also mentioned it’s more than a bit NIMBY ( not in my backyard). He says that some of the older people are having trouble affording life there, and the kids can’t afford the current property values.
Worse, the NIMBY’s complain about the bridge, bells, whistles, and the grinding. Accurate reports on decibel levels are filed with the Board of Selectmen. And the complaints about the flashing lights and honking of horns from the boats arriving are awful. Of course, the honks and such are how you alert the bridge keeper to the fact that you are there. If I remember correctly, they are Coast Guard required.
Despite my living inland, some of these issues seem to be almost identical to my current neck of the woods. Maybe I should head up to Ontario, or west to Idaho. You know, take a stab at an entirely different area, and find out what they have to complain about.
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I like that, NIMBY. People move places based on an idea and then learn what the place really is. Many of the houses that were snarked up in 2020/21 “Oh! An affordable home in Colorado!” are on the market right now.
Or if they decide to stay they try to make it into a carbon copy of where they came from. Then they resent those who resist, and if they suceed they move on to spoil the next place.
Exactly what they do. In my town, right now, they are building a fancy hotel across from the “conference” center they built five years ago. We have FOUR hostelries in this town and none of them are ever full, not even during Crane Festival and Stampede. There are big fancy hotels in Alamosa just 18 miles away. WAY more convenient for anyone. The airport (small though it is) and the rental car place.
Net the property values will go up so the kids and grandkids can’t affort to live there
In my opinion it is time to Écrasez l’infâme!
Well, I couldn’t buy a house here now, and I’m basically here because I could afford a house. You don’t make much $$$ as everybody’s favorite adjunct. We are truly victims of our own greed.
What’s cabon cofee
That is carbon copy, not coffee…I guess that carbon coffee would be badly burnt coffee. So aybe that too?
May all your plans succeed.
I certainly hope so!
There seems to be development everywhere. I guess people are living longer so more space is needed.
Wwhen I worked for UPS I occasionally had to leave the center to deliver important packages that arrived late. O often found myself in ritzy neighborhoods. I’d walk in, and have them sign for the package. Very often there was little in the house, they were mortgaged to the hilt for their mini-mansion. One big downturn in the economy ; one loss of a job; or anything; and they’d lose the house.
I beleive the term is over-leveraged.