Romantics Galore

Thank goodness the world is full of dreamers!

What a glorious day for a walk! We drove halfway to town and walked from there to the Farmers Market. 

There were half a dozen tents set up in the Huatoki Plaza. Before you get there you can hear a young man singing, accompanying himself on a guitar and helped by a friend with a drum from some Asian country. The songs are strident, full of passion and not all that tuneful.

Next to them is a mature lady selling baked goods of various kinds. We later buy one of her cinnamon buns for morning tea. Next to her two young guys grind and sell coffee from Papua-New Guinea. We order a coffee to go with the bun.

We bump into a friend who is standing for the position of mayor in the local elections in six weeks' time. Her attitude is "Che sera, sera". She cannot do more than she is already doing for the community; she has a long history of  service in a variety of ways. We wish her well.

Over the way a stall selling processed meats of various kinds, And another selling sauces and chutneys.

Most elaborate is Margaret's cousin's tent. He has a small farm where he grows lavendar and garlic; his stall sells various lavendar products: shampoos, perfumes, hand creams and so on. He also grows tea and a variety of herbs which he processes into a range of herb teas.

We wonder how many customers he gets each time he sets up his stall, a process which takes 30 minutes (and a similar time to dismantle). He is also standing in the elections, after a life-time of adventurous enterprises and community service.

All the time we are wandering around there are only a handful of customers; these days the crowds are in the chain stores in the new shopping centre on the fringe of town -- which looks just like similar centres in every provincial town in the country.

So cheers for originality, enterprise, and dreams! Some of them may change the world occasionally, and the rest will fade out of sight. But what a drab place it would be without them!