Country Life
By IAN NIALL TOURIST guides and like publications list, in addi- tion to the historical attractions of a place, the brief information that market day is on a Thursday. This seems intended to stimulate the imagination following the cryptic note, E.C.Wed. On Wednesday the little town has its afternoon nap, and two or three blue- bottles buzz between faded shop blinds and window glass, whereas on market day there is life in the square when the itinerant traders put up their stalls and sell everything from paste jewellery to kippers. These traders are not as local as they used to be. Each has modern transport now and quickly flits his wares from one end of the county to the other. Indeed, the majority of them know the little towns for miles around as thoroughly as the natives them- selves, and follow a regular route from place to place, varying it only when a special attraction or seasonal fair promises to fill the cash drawer quicker. Who really wants a string of blue or green glass beads or that length of flimsy net likely to rot in a couple of months even where there is no smog? To be perfectly honest, no one wants these things in the sense that they are necessary to life or happiness. The market sells itself with its noise, its milling crowd, the pleas of the cheapjacks and the jingle of coins too hot to keep anywhere but in the horny palm of the trader.
Previous page
