Friday, January 17, 2014

The PERKS of living in a small town …

As most of you “regulars” know I live in a very small town in North Carolina. Our Seaboard Street has a post office, a library, a combination hardware and “5 & Dime store plus a few unoccupied buildings. They are all on one side of the street. The other side looks over the single train track that cuts through our town.

Back in 2009 I shared an incident with you that I figured could only happen in a small, country town like mine. I was at the Hardware store when an old CSX freight train chugged into sight. It was going very slow and then it actually came to a stop. I saw the conductor jump down from the train and I asked the man at the store if he knew what was wrong. “Oh, nothin’s wrong…”, he said, “it’s lunch time and he jogs over to the “Subway” at the BP station to get his food … been going on for years” !

Well now I have another story that speaks of the joys of small town living. I stopped at our library (pictured at the far right, with the canopy) recently and was very disappointed to see that the “Closed” sign was up and Deb, the librarian, was locking the door. She said “Hi” and told me she was taking a walk as part of her lunch hour. Laughingly I said, “Darn, I have a car appointment and was hoping to get a book to read. Their magazines are all about sports or mechanics”.

“Oh, I know that feeling.” she said as she turned back and unlocked the door. “Run in and grab a book. Just drop by after your car stuff and we’ll make it legal.” … and that’s what I did !

A few hours later I was back in the library “making it legal” with my library card. I was also thanking Deb profusely and she was blushing and saying it was no big deal. “What was no big deal ?” the lady behind me in line asked and when I explained what she’d done the lady just smiled and shook her head up and down. “Yep”, she said, “That’s our Debbie !”

 

 

10 Comments:

Blogger NCmountainwoman said...

Small town living is the best! Such a treat when the local business owners know your tastes.

10:55 AM  
Blogger kenju said...

That would never happen in Raleigh! lol

You are lucky.

I have not been on your main street, but someday I'd like to.

12:36 PM  
Blogger possum said...

Yes, I know what you mean. Our little town is just under 500 people, and I love the fact that we all pretty much know each other. Like your town, the train track runs thru the middle of our place. One day the train stopped next to our little train station and sat there for almost an hour while the engineer went in to the barber shop and got a hair cut.
Sometimes the train stops at a chicken place a couple miles south for lunch... or at Shore Stop for a cup of coffee. I often wonder who foots the bill for all the diesel fuel being burned while that guy is waiting his turn and then getting his hair cut.
Amazing!

12:39 PM  
Blogger Arkansas Patti said...

Ha ha. Well my town beats yours for small. The limit signs are 2/10 of a mile apart and we only have a tire repair store, nothing else.
Our closest big town you do beat. It has two traffic lights.

4:08 PM  
Blogger Anvilcloud said...

That's very small but it leaves me all warm and fuzzy.

5:46 AM  
Blogger Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Small town living does have its benefits and those who have never experienced it cannot understand why folks chose it.

6:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wonderful story and you're making me homesick. Someday, someday. Dianne

1:08 PM  
Blogger KGMom said...

There are many benefits to small town living--trust being one of them.
We have many such towns near where we live--but we are suburbanites. We try to compensate by patronizing as many small businesses near where we are.

6:10 PM  
Blogger Regenia said...

TOTALLY enjoyed the stories in this post.

5:26 AM  
Blogger Syd said...

Nothing like a small town. Grew up in one and had similar experiences with everyone knowing my family. Sometimes that's good and other times, not so good.

4:48 AM  

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