16/06/2026
Morning Tuesday thoughts on community.
I’ve always viewed things in a holistic sense, for example a strong and resilient community is only as strong as its ability to say no to things. Things like, unfair levy’s or the outside expectation of excessive opening hours. Something I regularly explain to people looking for pies on a Sunday or Monday, is that although the pie shop is open Tuesday - Saturday 10-4, there are people cooking in the kitchen at all hours of the day and night. That they’re running on something called ‘capacity’ which means it’s the most the staff can do without burning-out. A limited supply of local (workers) means that things must run in balance. The opening times of shops and restaurants are staggered to reflect this.
Energy and capacity and people are precious and finite resources.
I believe we should stand up for our neighbours not just on social media, but with how we vote and how we conduct ourselves out in the real world. My community matters to me because they’re quite literally my friends and my family. When I talk to people, I listen to them and I believe them until given evidence or information to do otherwise. Giving folk the benefit of the doubt is treating people as you find them - this is the heart of community engagement. You meet people everyday. From all walks of life. The Pan Highlands is so vast, and the needs of its inhabitants and visitors and as diverse as the ecology and the geography of the places (plural).
Sitting here on a mild Tuesday morning, typing this out on my phone on the steps on my shop, smiling and waving and to people.
It’s occurs to me that new relationships here are mostly built on mutual needs and reciprocity and sometimes that needs is as simple as needing to make a new friend. One in particular I miss a great deal miss when I look across the street. One who’s since moved on, but one the pie-shop brought into my life when I needed it most, and that’s what I’m grateful for. 🙂
