It has gone dark. The rain
is beginning to fall. It looks like the sun has gone for today & we’re back
to another damp day ahead.
As we sat in the pub
yesterday we were joined by friends. He is a market stall holder selling
militaria & antiques. We were told about all the difficulties that are
being put in his way by Lancaster Council.
His stall is only allowed
to be so big. Now they’re proposing come the new year he should be moved to a
back street where there is little footfall. Needless to say he isn’t happy.
It seems the local shops are
complaining that the market stalls are preventing passing pedestrians from
seeing their shops. The cafés are especially vociferous as these days they
extend their seating out into the pedestrianized street where the street market
is.
As I’ve said in a previous blog, I love markets. I love their colour & atmosphere. I feel they can
only add to the ambiance of a city, but clearly our council is determine to
drive all market traders away.
It seems to me our friend
has a precarious enough income as it is, without this hassle. He’s outside in
all weathers trying to make a living. It’s certainly not a lifestyle I would choose
- give me a warm office or shop any day. Without people passing in front of his
stall, he doesn’t stand a chance. He’ll probably end up another person signing
on unemployed.
I suppose his plight
strikes me particularly poignantly at the moment as he is an ex-soldier who is
still coping with the trauma of seeing sights no-one should see in defence of
our country. As we think at this time of
the sacrifice of so many people in the World Wars & after, it seems we
continue to kick the veterans in the teeth if they have the audacity to return
to come back alive, apparently fit, to civilian life.
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