Farewell Town Hall, Hello Town Square

The Town Hall is flattened. It’s gone. All the rubble has been taken away and this morning they put tarmac over the scar. The Town Hall has gone but now there is a town square. A lot of people have being saying we should have had that in the first place. Dodgy John can’t wait to get a market on there and start shifting some of the stock that has been filling up his house for the last few months. (Neither can his wife Mo) Walter and Bill think it would be good if they put a few benches on there, change of view and all that. (Sid is in hospital for tests. His cough won’t go away. He’s flat on his back, trying not to move – whenever he moves, he coughs and his whole frame shakes in pain. He’s hoping that Walter and Bill will visit him but it’s a long way on the bus and they are afraid that if they go into hospital they might never come out. Sid is worried about this too)Ed is walking through the new ‘town square’. He is  visiting  for an interview at the College – teaching sociology. He never saw the Town Hall so doesn’t know it’s gone and he doesn’t know that there should be three old fellas sitting on the bench by the bus stop not only two. As he looks around him at the beautiful black and white buildings, the castle, the hills in the background, the cheery market traders Ed thinks he could be happy here. He thinks he could settle here, make his mark, meet someone, settle down, join the local council, and, if he could bring himself to believe in God, go the the beautiful parish church. He climbs the grand stone steps to the entrance of the college, looks back to take in the view of what could be his, takes a deep breath and walks in.