And you didn’t stop to visit me?
HUMPH!
Wish I knew you were in these parts.
Burlington, and now Brattleboro are full of socialists. They came in the 60s and have made roots. Not many native Vermonters like them; but they tolerate them.
What I love about being up here [our village is less than 1K people] is the integrity of the people. Hardscrabble, common sense types who step up help you when needed, and generally mind their own business.
You touched upon a old-fashioned virtue that has been lost in places south of here. That is the *honor system*.
Case in point: my son made arrangements to buy a double L kayak from a guy, who said he would meet him at the house at the appointed time; guy couldn’t get out of work to make the meet, so he said, open the door of the house and leave the money on the hall table, and take the kayak. Transaction complete. No stress. No hassle. That’s how the honor system works here.
Used to be you could leave your doors open, and your keys in the car at the store; still like that here; don’t know for how much longer; like double L had to change their guarantee policy b/c so many people took unfair advantage of it.
When I go to town for supplies, I never go over 35mph to drink in the beauty of Vermont; I take back roads on purpose; always pull over if someone seems to want to fly past [a rarity]; more often or not, they stop, back-up and roll down their window to ask if I am having car trouble. Kind folks. Let me know when you are up in the NEK again; drive slow, roll down your windows, smell the new mown hay and the wildflowers and freshly spread manure.
I’ll put up a lemonade stand for ya! And give you directions to the loveliest 18th C church in all of Vermont.
Didn’t know you were a Vermonter, Daffynition!
LOL, the state is indeed beautiful, and I do the same. I see a car behind me, I pull over and let them pass...:)
Vermont just...well, feels like it is about 30 years behind in some way...a good way.
Case in point...we went up the the Cabot Creamery to take a tour, only to find out they don’t give tours anymore. Food security.
But we stopped in the little dinky town and went in to have some lunch at “Sarah’s Country Diner”, and when we entered the door, it looked like a...hardware store!
There was a counter with five stools and five people at it, one of them an eight year old (I think) kid. We were puzzled, because it didn’t look like they were serving anything but beer, and I asked if it were Sarah’s Country Diner, and the guy crooked his finger to a door way in the back and grinned. My wife and I laughed...where we live, there is likely some law against a kid sitting at a counter where alcohol was served!
We were the only customers, each bought a sandwich, and then spent the next hour chatting about all things in life with Sarah. When we took our leave, we both shook her hand, and she said that was one of the finest conversations she had in a long time, and since it was my birthday, she gave me a couple of her homemade cookies at no charge, one of which I am eating now...:)
I didn’t want to take it without paying, but I could not convince her otherwise. Just a wonderful day.
Of course, something to counteract that, earlier in the day, we were filling our tank near an intersection in another small town, and heard someone shouting. To me, shouting in public is a bad thing. It alarms people. We turned to see two cars stopped at a light, and a young guy in the car behind was yelling at the people in the car in front of him. He was shouting over and over again “Put out your cigarettes. You are breaking the law. You have children in the car. You can’t smoke in the car with children in it!”
Now, I don’t smoke cigarettes, never have, but I found myself thinking that guy should shut the hell up. Really nanny-statist. I know it isn’t good for the kids. But that scene grated on me.