I realized recently that along my street there seems to be a strong representation of the demographics of this town ... something you'd only see if you came from 'away' (which is how a lot of people here refer to outsiders - in Scotland I'd be a Sassenach).
The town itself seems on the verge of tipping one way or the other. It used to be a town of industry with a shipping yard, mills, strong fishing grounds and large factories close enough for a commute. Within the last couple decades a lot of those industries faded away and that the town launched a large venture toward tourism. They gathered funding to create the Hector Quays Heritage Centre, built the Hector replica in an attempt to revitalize the town and did a large improvement project on the wharf and businesses. It was the town's concerted effort to ensure it's survival. Because of the timing of these events we are now in a rift between what people remember as 'the good old days' and what the town is trying to become.
The neighbours on my west are your average work-a-day folk, no savings, no prospects, not old enough to retire, and what I would easily refer to as white trash. They are nice enough folk but the man has a huge chip on his shoulder which is all-encompassing. He is not smart enough to be successful, and not dumb enough to simply accept his lot in life. He is stuck somewhere between.
The people on my east side are retired folk - he was born in Pictou, grew up here when the land our houses sit on was a farmer's field. He worked in Antigonish most of his life and then retired to Pictou. He and his wife are extremely pleasant and quiet. A vast majority of the people here are retired or very close to, I would put the number around 40%.
The people across the street are idiots. Oh, did I say idiots? I meant to say there are 4 people living there all under the age of 22. No offense meant of course, to anyone I know under 22, living on your own responsibly, not driving your car into the boulder in your front yard, not stumbling along the block at 6am yelling and giggling in a drunken/high stupor, not mowing your lawn only when it gets to 10 inches high, and respecting the people who live around you. These punks see no future here, are angry about it and spend most of their time and money in methods of escape. All they see is a dead end but choose apathy instead of forging their own new paths beyond the end of the road. It's simply easier to acquiesce. No crystal ball required to see their future ... they just have to look across the street and see my resentful neighbour.
The woman directly across from me is a single mom with a teenage son. I only ever see her to drive her son places, run errands, put out the trash, and mow the lawn. A perfect neighbour.
By far the vast majority of people here are happy, pleasant, and working hard to ensure that the town survives, prospers, grows into a tourist trap. A town that doesn't evolve and change with the times dies. From what I can tell the people who are content with those changes are happy here and embrace the future whatever it brings. People who are not content do nothing to change their own situation and simply bitch about how it used to be or how it just isn't good enough. Those are the people I welcome to leave.
My guess is everyone here thinks I'm totally insane to be in my early thirties and moving to Pictou ... I think it's one of the sanest things I've ever done.
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