The Aylesbury Society....
caring for all the town's built environment.
Small town USA
A personal view
by
Frances King
We returned in June from a 2,300 mile driving holiday around the Southern states of the USA – real ‘Gone With The Wind’ territory - and, as on previous visits, we prefer to keep off the never-ending Interstates as much as possible to visit ‘small town America’. Inevitably we always end up comparing these towns with Aylesbury.
I would describe their towns as clones, for they were all very similar, with not much individual character. Of course, they don’t have the history and quaintness that many of our towns have. Inevitably there was Main Street running from one end of town to the other, with a few side streets branching off. Very few had ‘squares’ or parks, or people for that matter! That was the first thing that hit us – where was everyone, were these ghost towns? No matter what time of day, or day of week, there was never any obvious sign of life. Unlike Aylesbury where there are always folk hustling and bustling about. Now you might think this is a good feature, but, believe me, it was eerie!!! We would park at one end of Main Street, walk the length and back and if you saw half-dozen people that was an exaggeration. If you looked in the shops and cafes you might see the odd sign of life, but it was very rare. Of course, the car is king. They drive everywhere. Whether out of fear or laziness who knows.
Many of these towns, like Aylesbury, have lost (and are still losing) some of their oldest buildings, but they, unlike Aylesbury, are making every effort to restore their ‘historic
landmarks’. Of course, on the whole they are not elaborate buildings, dating back perhaps 150 years, but they are trying to re-establish and re-invent the old feel of their 
Old Hardware shop Floyd, Virginia
town centres – and in many cases are succeeding. For example, an old-fashioned, disused, filling station in Clayton, Georgia, with just two ancient petrol pumps, has been converted into a cafeteria/bar called, wait for it!! The Filling Station! The old pumps have been cleaned up and are a feature, with tables and chairs around to eat al fresco, with the old office converted to a bar. It worked. Elsewhere, an old Post Office had been converted into a very pleasant restaurant (shades of the old Electricity Board building). Oh, and by the way, every town, no matter how small, had its Post Office!
Main Street, Clayton, Georgia
The second noticeable thing was cleanliness. No matter whether you were downtown or in the suburbs, there was no litter, no graffiti, and, for that matter, no long grass (which we thought looked unnatural). Everywhere, even in the remotest Smokey Mountains the verges were mown, still they must employ hordes of grass-cutters. Perhaps the authorities in Aylesbury should employ a few more people to keep the town looking spick and span instead of pleading poverty all the time. You could get lost forever in some of our verges!!!
The Stars and Strips fluttered from nearly every house, which at first impressed us, but then we wondered if they did this out of patriotism, or because they are encouraged, or even told, to do so. Every supermarket/garden centre sold the flag for just a few dollars. Now that Mr. Brown has ‘waived’ the ban on flying the Union flag wouldn’t it look good fluttering over our ‘official’ buildings in the town? We should, after all, be proud of our country and not be afraid to show it.
Very little planning was required for the layout of the towns, and they tended to spread out like a ribbon into the shopping precincts that inevitably bordered every town. We Brits seem to have the urge to stake our claim and mark our boundaries by fences, walls, hedges, which is OK as long as they are kept neat and tidy. In the US one plot just converged with another, and sometimes a house looked as though it was in someone’s back garden. Not too sure about that!!! Think of the disputes we’d have!!! I don’t think the British mentality would stand for that. We are very protective of our property, and I dread to think what would happen in Aylesbury if planning permission wasn’t required! In fact, sometimes our planners should be a little more vigilant and enforce the law.
Of course, these endless shopping Malls – pronounced Molls – have caused the demise of the small town centres. Here Wal-Mart rules, closely followed by Lion Supermarkets and Dollar (akin to Audi or Lidl). These precincts could be as small as 2-3 stores or as big as Milton Keynes, but they seemed to be the only places where locals could actually buy food! If you didn’t have a car – you’d starve!!! Long may Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s stay within our town, together with the clothes retailers, opticians, bakeries/sandwich bars? In the US these were all ‘out of town’. The only shops remaining in the centres were ‘antique shops’ (anything over 20 years old), craft shops (I guess there’s not much else to do) realtors (estate agents) and cafes (the ideal meeting place for locals) with the very odd bar. But, of course, we were in the Bible belt that didn’t condone drinking alcohol in public, and was banned completely on a Sunday. As I was told by a waiter when I asked for a pomegranate juice and vodka ‘cocktail’. “You can have the cocktail ma’m, but minus the vodka” Therefore, there wasn’t any apparent drink related problems in the South, mainly because of these strict laws, and even stricter Law Enforcement Officers. But it would be naïve to think there were none. Oh, and I nearly forgot, there was always the hardware store where you could buy anything from nails, screwdrivers, guns and ammo!!!!
This leads me on to the subject of service in these establishments. Invariably it was with a smile. Quite often it was accompanied by an introduction, an enquiry as to where we were from, the state of our health, and followed by a brief history of their life. The Southern States are truly pro-British, so much so that they would talk to you like an old friend. Coffee was ‘topped up’ as many times as you wanted, as were many cold drinks. If you asked for Iced Tea you got a pitcher, and invariably a ‘doggie bag’ to take your leftovers home. Bread or rolls were free and were continually topped up. Why aren’t our restaurants/cafeterias as friendly and customer centric? We’re luck to get a smile, let alone “How y’all doing”?
The police are greatly respected. They used to appear out of nowhere to pull up a speeding motorist. However, on the whole, driving was quite pleasurable. The only road rage was in our own car and mainly because we misinterpreted their interminable road signage differently. They certainly believe in quantity not quality!
Get me out of here!! Road signs USA style
For the first time in ages we came across respect, from young and old, and this was before we had given the game away with our accents. How refreshing to hear ‘Pardon me’ as they stepped out of your way. So polite. All we get over here is verbal abuse. Does our youth know Excuse Me, or Pardon me even exist. Of course, it would be foolish to assume that all the US is like that – we know they’re not, and once again I reiterate, that we are only talking about the towns we visited.
There is so much to tell – I could go on and on – but enough is enough.
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