There’s an immigrant in town. And with it has come the sweet smell of culture change. There have been no riots. No protests in the streets. No NIMBYs signing online petitions. This is a town desperate for immigrants.
The brave newcomer is called Border Bean. It’s a cafe, not a ‘caf’ or a cosy tea room. The town is already blessed with those. It’s not better, just different in a good way. It takes a serious espresso machine to connect the city to the country. It’s about how we live now, not how we lived 50 years ago. It’s the new foodie chapel and church of community, not Cold Comfort Farm.
And since Border Bean arrived it’s captured hearts, minds, and every apres-school teenager in town. It’s just possible, as you sink with a sigh into a welcoming couch, to believe that coffee could save the countryside.
But you ask yourself, what on earth possessed them? Where did they find the optimism and faith to take over a dead space – one of many – and create life? How did they know we would be grateful and reward them?
Perhaps they could see that this is a town full of good people, and only their goodness is keeping them going. They organise festivals, annual theatre productions and host events in their otherwise waste-of-space recreation grounds. They volunteer for the fire brigade and the ambulance service. They run the multitude of charity shops in the high street.
They deserved a break and they’ve had one.
Now, they are on the hunt for more immigrants.
So bring your energy, your enthusiasm, your zest for life and hard work to the Welsh borders. We will love you for it.
Border Lines 