Dave

I try preserving that traditionalist taste for things that are so typical of me. I like old towns, I like handcrafted, homemade, old arts, and town markets. I am invariably nostalgic. Since I moved to Whittlesey, I have always looked for local produce. Because the big commercial surfaces have suffocated in unaffordability, and although people keep trying, they don’t tend to stick around for very long. I would love to help these businesses. But how can you compete with the "big dogs", when they can provide more, cheaper and quicker?

Dave is a Whittlesey old boy, or at least that’s what he likes to be called. I don’t even know if that is his real name. It’s funny because we use the name Dave at home when we talk about someone we can’t remember the name of, or when we discuss having a dog and what name we are going to give him. Dave will probably be the name.

He brings his big lorry around, half full of big potato bags and all the other veggie bits he manages to grow and parks in the same car park every weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Many weekends he doesn’t even have that much available, he has mostly potatoes, hence the name “Dave’s Potatoes”. And these are good quality and really tasty. But I’m convinced people don't come only for his potatoes but mainly by his warm and friendly approach. He loves to have a chat with us, asking us how we are getting on and just having a good conversation about everything and nothing. Surely this trade has not been one of financial need. Many people who preserve this sort of trade do it to keep a certain social interaction, and to escape from isolation, particularly in more remote areas. He is so nice that even my mum used to chat with him, in her broken English, when she came for holidays.

Dave is retiring. He says it’s time and that he cannot continue. There comes a time when our body does not cope and we just have to throw the towel. Life for the old small trades is not getting any easier. There are no business options. Local farmers that produce enough quantity get more profit out of associating with the big supermarkets. When they put it on a scale, it’s really a no-brainer.

It’s a shame that the local councils don’t offer local businesses a low rate to keep their business going. These businesses add character to the little towns and people like that more than they want to admit. For many, it's not but a self-supporting business. We see so many empty shops in little towns, which surely are not bringing the council any money in, these could be used to support little businesses like these.

It’s just a shame that local authorities everywhere subjugate more and more to the interest of the ones with the highest capital, rather than supporting their own community. This way people like Dave will be trading less and less and the traditional trade will be lost. I know my mum will be gutted when I break it to her.