This week my two babies and I went to visit my Nanna. I am very lucky to be nearly 40 (good God – can this be true??) and still have grandparents to visit. This is one of the many advantages to having young parents.
My Nanna resides in the first town I ever lived in. It is tiny. Tumbleweed tiny. And it seems to shrink further every time I visit it.
This is the sign that welcomes you to the town. The first time my Dad saw this he was indignant – they had down-graded the town to a village. As you can see Bute is so small they don’t even declare the population. I think it is a statement of the highest optimism to say that the population is growing.
Bute is bordered on one side by distant rolling hills and on the other by endless wheat plains…
My Nanna lives across the road from the wheat silos and, strange as it may seem, I love the silos. There is a certain majesty to the way they rise up out of the wheat and stretch into a endless blue sky.
Bute has some lovely old buildings that smack of South Australia….
The Town Hall
And the RSL hall
But the business side of the main street makes me sad…
When I was small there was a bank, a hardware store, a deli with a toy section, a supermarket and a shop selling farm equipment. Now just the supermarket remains.
Meanwhile, the nearest town, Kadina,is going ahead like crazy. They even have a Target and are building McDonalds. I was looking through old photos while I was at Nanna’s and was almost overcome with nostalgia for a lost time and a disappearing place.
Does this happen to you? Or am I just a sentimental fool?