Used to Be

I want to start by emphasising how much I enjoy coming home, and how much I love the Scottish Borders, just to make sure people don't think I am getting to be above my station.

However, sometimes when I go into the nearest town, I can get a little sad at the state of affairs. Back in the good old days, real estate here was one of the most expensive in the country. The town was the home of cashmere, Lyle & Scott, Pringle knitwear, and produced so much woolen produce that they had to bus coach loads of people in from other towns to man the mills. The rugby team was top of their league, and regularly produced Scotland players. It was definitely the place to be.

But now what? The mills have all but given up the ghost, with few remaining, and even fewer doing well. Houses are most definitely below the national average, with a four bed probably costing the same as a Stockbridge studio. While the Greens still play, a recent relegation can't have helped their morale, and the ratio of wins to losses is lower than it used to be. On the high street, the number of empty stores is beaten only by that of charity shops and hairdressers.

One of the recent success stories has been the restoration of this water mill into a coffee house, cinema and tourist information centre. Tonight, however, even it was empty.

One can only hope that this is a temporary speed bump in the road, and that things can turn around to get back to where they used to be.