OK, so this week has actually seen quite a momentic (word? Possibly not) change in our rather little but rather marvellous corner of the world. The fair residents of Cornwall (including at least 6 of our lovely suppliers) woke up on 24th April to the news that they have now been granted official minority status, bestowed on it, via several committees and frameworks, by Europe. Hoorah! The Cornish can now officially refer to themselves as Cornish. I’m sure they would have done this without some committee telling them they can, but still, anything which recognises and celebrates Cornwall’s unique position among other UK regions in terms of language, history, culture and character can only be a good thing.
So congratulations Kernow! You truly are unique and minoritnous. (Non-word number 2), and we loves ya for it.
And that’s not all – there’s also exciting news Eastside this month; the South West is now connected to the mainland again! Yep, that’s right, rather unexpectedly, the train line at Dawlish was actually finished ahead of schedule (Rio Olympics committee, take note) so west of Exeter is now not completely inaccessible to everyone without a car and/or private jet. And on a personal note – hoo-bloody-rah! No more replacement coach services, no more standing on the platform at Tiverton waiting to get on a train to take me the last 10 minutes of my 2 hour journey to Taunton and (sadly) no more free drinks vouchers as compensation for the whole ballache.
But seriously, it’s fantastic news for all those local businesses who risked losing oodles of income due to reduced tourist numbers. So well done to Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Bob, Wendy and whoever else was responsible (that’s one for the parents); perhaps now we need to address the bigger problem of making the South West more accessible and not entirely dependent on one solitary rail line in and out of the region for the future. After all – we’ve got a protected minority down ‘ere now. We’ve gotta look after them.