Thursday, what a day!

Took my brother in-law to radiation therapy today at Chapel Hill. Not a happy place.
Had a merchants association meeting tonight. A couple of people showed up, thank you to those who cared. But the place it was to be held, no one showed up to let us in. Jdc didn't show up either. Some one told me that tonight was the high school graduation. Does the entire town go?
I think that maybe T is right and it will be 5-7 years before anything happens here. The bypass opened 2 days ago and the town had 3 years to make plans. The place should be alive with stores, restaurants but there were no incentives for businesses to come here and so none came. I keep hearing this mantra " if you have staying power you can make it it here". What that means is "if you are already wealthy or your business was established 15 years ago you have a chance of survival but other wise you best get use to being poor".
I understand why the Arts Council moved to Clayton. It was because they had a chance to succeed in Clayton, because there are people progressive enough to support new concepts. Because there is initiative. Bravo Clayton! Come on Smithfield. Get out from underneath.

The new bypass opened yesterday. Several of the old guard in town are upset about the new road that will make the trip to Raleigh 10 minutes shorter. Most of the people I know are so happy about it. But then most of the people I know aren't from here and we love the idea of new people coming to the area.
How can one town have so much potential and be so sad at the same time. It needs to be rescued from its own citizenry.

OK! So this place is full of strange people. May be that's what attracted us to this town in the first place. Not weird in conventional weird. Just the way they think, socialize and react. I was told that its because I'm from the north and don't understand southern ways, but then I meet someone that has moved here say from Mississippi. They think the social order/structure and people are odd too and that its definitely not a southern thing but a Smithfield thing. Like the 1950's in a contemporary Peyton Place kind of way, except southern style with a little Stepford wives thrown in. I would love to open an art gallery here just to see who and what would turn up.