Growth in Mellowdene

Hello my friends in the human world! Darcy here. I'm writing this on a new computer! A couple of days ago Newton Butterglove replaced the terminal that I've been using the past few years. That's not the reason I'm filling in for Jackson, though.

 

I was delighted to see that the views of the Mellowdene blog had passed the 30,000 mark, noting in particular how those views had grown over the past couple of weeks. Thank you!

The word "grown" made me pause for thought. It has always been a matter of interest to me, seeing how the population of Mellowdene County has grown during my lifetime. This has, of course, necessitated changes to cope with the increased numbers, be that via administrative or infrastructure modifications. It has tended to happen in sporadic bursts and we've been in one of these this last couple of years. For this blog post I thought I'd mention a few.

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I don't know if my daughter Una had been the catalyst for one such change, but it does concern the school. Una's project had highlighted points that seem to have inspired the teachers to put forward syllabus changes and modifications to teaching methods. The opportunity was taken to employ more teachers and the council went further and approved a new school building. 

 

This is almost complete, Henry-Lloyd Construction using copies of building plans already employed throughout Sylvania. HHG Enterprises are doing the final touches and the hope is that the school will be ready for next term. Sandro Lopez - as mentioned by Jackson in a previous post - is but one of the new teachers. Professor Isaac Merryweather will be taking the advanced classes. Other tutors are scattered throughout the county to give localised educational support.

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We've had another enhancement to public services. Two postmen were considered insufficient for the widespread population. Frankly, I don't know how my friend Samuel Stamp and his colleague Pete Petite have managed these past few years. When Pete had to take a break due to ill health, Mookie Dappledawn helped fill in. Granted he only made one mistake, quickly resolved, but it did help to highlight that we needed more postal workers. 

The Brightfield family came to Mellowdene just over a year ago and two of them are experienced postmen. Billy Brightfield is one and his brother Buddy is the other. One of Buddy' daughters - tiny Sue - is already infatuated with postal work and she sometimes helps her father on his round. Most of the time, the Brightfields will be covering the greater county area leaving Samuel and Pete to cover the village.

 

A small building has recently been renovated to become a sub post office and the Brightfields are using this as their base of operations. It will be a great help to the families living at the other side of the county. The building will also have one of the new phone booths to aid communications in what is a less developed area. I expect Jackson's relatives (the Cornflowers, featured in a recent blog) will be pleased about this.

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There is little wrongdoing in Mellowdene but things do go wrong. The Sheriff's Department copes brilliantly with such problems but there was concern outside the county that such a small department had too much to do given the size of the population. The Central Sylvanian Police offered to provide more personnel but Bisto Wildwood didn’t want to alter the balance or focus of his Department. A compromise was agreed. The CSP would provide one policeman from Calico New City but he would be under Bisto's command. The newcomer would primarily handle all the administration and act as the liaison between the CSP and the Sheriff's Department, freeing Bisto and his staff to do more community work. 

 

As it transpired, Bisto had no need to be concerned about any difference in approach by the newcomer. Bartholomew Roberts - usually preferring to be called Bobby - was a perfect fit for the Department. He liked Bisto's way of working and adapted almost immediately.

 

He came to the Mellowdene Examiner's office and introduced himself. A truly nice badger. From our chat I have a feeling that he won't limit himself to admin!

 

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Even our chapel has been affected by this growth. Yes, the serene and calming Reverend Kelvin Waters - the elder brother of my childhood friend Wade - has taken on help to assist in dealing with the spiritual health of Mellowdene. The new curate is Orlando Oakwood. 

 

Currently his duties are light as he is learning the intracies that define the range of faiths in Sylvania. It's important if he is to fully support our crittizens in the same way that Kelvin established when he took on the role.

 

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I'm happy that, despite all this growth, Mellowdene continues to be the same comforting place as ever it was. Newcomers become new friends, welcomed into the community and in no time at all they cease to be newcomers. As it should be.

 

Anyway, that's it for now, my friends. 

This is Darcy Fielding, signing off. Bye-ee!

 

 

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