​The Village People

The Village People

By Paul McCann

In the little village   thousands of houses lined both sides of the streets and back entries were littered with rubbish bins .

Every now and then the village people would be seen doing their dirty work , like the binmen who would physically lift peoples bins , with two hands on the bin and backs that were bent,  as they sent the rubbish within , into the back of a rubbish truck with a crash and bins full of trash were sent into the back of a truck and  off they’d go in the wind and the rain around the back of the streets without a friendly hello .

They were the unseen people of the village doing great work and their clothes reeked every week of the stench of the garbage from the bins they emptied filled with dirty nappies and rotten fruit but they just got on with it until the job was done a little bit like the chimney sweep who rode through the streets of the village on his bike  doing his dirty work to keep things clean for a couple or bob for his trouble  .

Through the streets the coalmen came before the chill of winter arrived .

“How many bags do you want “

They would ask and then they would go to their truck and carry the bags of coal and slack in to the back yards that was stacked up to keep the houses warn through  the cold winter months . As sometimes as the coal men went from house to house a few young lads kept a watch within striking distance from some nearby path and quietly and quickly they picked their moment when no one was around to run a snatch a few lumps of coal from different sacks on the lorry . The coalmen would never miss a few lumps from each sack and those crafty lads felt grateful for what they could pluck for free . Some of those lumps of coal were as big as a fist that they put in their pockets.

as they walked home with their hands black from the coal they had stole . Some of the poor village people were kept warm in the winter but there were always the homes that had no smoke coming out of the chimney tops . For the lucky ones who  had kept their homes fires burning through the winter along came the chimney sweep down the street . looking as black your boot in the missile of the night . He wore clothes covered in soot and his face was all blackened out except for when he would smile at the village people as he passed them by on his bike .

Every now and then he would give a wave as he made his way through the streets and in the blink of an eye he was gone . You could hear him before you saw him with that rattle and hum as he sung a tune and rode his bike with all his brushes and rods,  he used to clean out the chimneys . The chimney sweep was another one of the village people who remained unseen making his way in between houses and streets to do his job for a couple of bob . The chimney sweep was nobody’s fool cause he was never out of work and his home fire was kept burning all winter long . .

Sometimes he would ring the bell on his bike to let people know he was coming as no one would know or expect to see him there until he appeared from nowhere, like the ice cream man who would do the same . Sometimes the ice cream man would come along in his van that played Greensleeves or Red River Rock through the speakers on the top of his van and everyone know he was coming . As the music played around the streets , people would be drawn from their homes . Some of the young children would run and jump and chase his van around the streets hoping he might give them a free treat on the way.   

When the coal men came into the village streets the word went out for the snatch and grab . A game some of the lads kept liked to play . They always stayed within  striking distance of the coalman’s lorry from a nearby path and there they quietly waited and watched until the truck would stop and the coal men would get out to deliver their bags of coal that they carried on their backs . Then when no one was about the young lads would run and grab a few lumps of coal from different sacks .

The coal men would never notice a few lumps were missing from the sacks in their truck and the crafty wee lads were always grateful for what they were able to pluck.

The postman was another of the village people who carried letters and cards to the houses . Some of those letters and cards had money inside and often at different times of the year the postman’s sack would get heavier as he did his rounds through the village streets .

On cold winter mornings he would walk with his heavy sack filled with Christmas cards for many . His face was weather beaten but he wore a warm smile as he did his deliveries, walking mile after mile. One of two kind hearted people in the village might offer him a helping hand but a postman’s work has to be done alone . Each letter , each card had to be delivered by hand and he carried his heavy load until his job was done . For him it was more than a job , it was a mission to get the mail through . He would think about all the good news greetings he would have in his sack and the love letters , or the cash for those in need, maybe photographs with messages to read . The postman was one of the village people who was dedicated to his work and had considered his job as a lifetime’s vocation for the community .

Some of the other village people who worked hard for the community were the milkmen who delivered bottles by hand from door to door . of all the houses in the village .

There were glass bottles of milk and orange juice , there were cartons of fresh cream and even buttermilk in the crates that were stacked on the back of his milk truck .

He was always in time and never late as the people of the village were getting breakfast ready . Carrying bottles from his milk truck , he would walk and run until his job was done each day . Rain, hail or shine he would deliver milk in the usual way walking up the paths and taking away the empty bottlers that were there on the ground .

He picked them up and put them down changing the colour or their tea from black to white.

And making porridge smoother to the taste . Some of the people around the village would sometimes leave the milkman a little note there , asking for an extra pint of no milk sometimes .For a bob or two the milkman earnt his pay and bobs your uncle everything was ok in the village .  There were many people in the village who provided service with a smile and it lingered for a long while .

The Lollipop men would stand holding their funny looking sticks in the air as they helped children to cross over busy roads . The  lollipop men protected many who needed to get across safely to the other side , safely in one piece and je also considered what he did as a vocation .The paper boys were part of the village people and every night and day they carried newspapers in sacks from door to door . The newspapers papers had lots of stories to tell and job vacancies for the people of the village . There were many more men and women who were part of the people , providing different needs such as the village nurse , the doctor and priest who would all visit different homes everyday . There were the shops like the fishmonger with his fresh fish that were cleaned and gutted or smoked and stuffed after they had been caught by fishermen on boats and trawlers . He had shellfish and crabs , slippery eels and lobsters he brough from the markets each day.

There were many who shared for free songs and stories around the village and each day on the corners of many streets some of these very talented village people would be seen and heard like angels bringing light into the darkness or colour to the daily drag . They corner boys quartets had a gift that touched many as they walked past and in that moment secrets of the soul were revealed in a hearts space , The songs they could sing with their unique voices brough happiness to many .Like doves set free in the community their songs were lifted above nearer and dearer to the hearts of many .

The world we live in today has changed in many ways and a lot of the village people have gone never to return . . Some say we have progressed and the modern world has devices and many services on line that provide faster service with a much better quality .

Machines are doing jobs that the village people used to do and at time people have been left behind in this modern world . There is little time these days to get things done and the world we left behind has been replaced by technology . In my opinion the things that were done by the village people were beautiful and made people smile more and feel more human back then .

God knows there's no denying how times have changed now. We never know what we’ve got until its gone and now somehow, I hope , that someday , the village people will return again to restore the world into a beautiful place where had more time for one another . There was an essence of love in how we walked and talked and the  way we sang and how we connected with each other .

The village people had a vocation and an understanding about the things they did and howe they could make a difference in the lives of many .

The End