No body lives here

A couple of weeks ago, Spot talked about the lack of cats around the vicinity of the manse. This seems to extend throughout most of the town. As he said, it can be a sign of a lack of permanent residents.

With that thought at the back of my mind, I started to notice something even more strange about this place. There is no butchers or green grocers. There is a bakers, but it seems to be more popular with visitors for its ice cream than bread. The owners of the hardware store are retiring, so it's on the market - and has been for a couple of years, by all accounts.

Now, in the area of the country I come from, that is not unusual (though the town I live in has 3 butchers). With ready access to other towns, supermarkets etc, there is less need. The nearest supermarket (apart from the co-op) is over 20 miles away. In addition, the 2 closest towns have butchers and bakers. One has a thriving hardware store (in 3 premises) and a fish mongers. But both of those towns are, at least 15 minute drive away. I dread to think how irregular the public transport links are.

So, if 2 similarly small towns can sustain these businesses, what's different here. A lack of permanent residents. In the block in which the manse is situated - which extends approximately the size of 2 football pitches - there are 3 permanent homes. At the moment, that includes the manse! There's about a dozen properties, but most are holiday homes. That, from what I can see, is pretty indicative of vast tracts of the town.

When on holiday, people tend to eat out more, going to pubs and cafes for meals. The might even get a supermarket delivery sent to their holiday address. All in, the wee shops which sustain a community are not really used by most holiday makers.

Which does raise the question of how a church serves the needs of such a community. Of the visitors and the residents. As I have no experience of this at all, it's a question to ponder as I realise the church here may not notice things I do.