Head Up, Keep Calm And Carry On

Today was a bit of a disheartening day. My brother's been struggling quite a bit lately so I decided that to try and cheer him up by taking him down The Chequers, our local and very much happy place, for lunch and a pint but when we got there it was in darkness and the doors were locked. Looking in through the window none of the tables from the night before had been cleared either, which is never usually the case.
So somewhat reluctantly we traipsed to the other side of the village to visit the other main pub in the village (which I won't name) which we're not that keen on, as by local consensus the landlord is both miserable and rude (not a great combination for any hospitality skills!), but it didn't open until 3 pm. Therefore, we doubled back again and headed to The Little Gem (which has featured in a couple of previous blips). It's a tiny establishment that we don't normally frequent either as it really only serves real ale - not our favourite choice of imbibement as we're very much 'uncouth' lager drinkers. Instead we settled on a large glass of wine each and squeezed ourselves around one of the minuscule tables.
An old guy sitting at the bar started chatting to us as he said he's seen us out running together when he's on his way to his allotment just down the road. As more people came in the pub the talk moved on to The Chequers as they had seen that it was closed. One of the regulars said that it appears it has suddenly gone out of business - in fact one witness had seen drinkers and diners allegedly being turfed out onto the street outside last night as they were being told it was being closed immediately.
It's a huge blow if that is the case, especially after losing our local restaurant, The Hengist (run by the same owner), just before Christmas. The conversation turned to stories about how staff weren't being paid at The Hengist before it closed and that some locals had started boycotting The Chequers as a result.
Some of those present were casting aspersions on the owner - the other two pubs that he owns have also shut with immediate effect - but I do feel some people have short memories. The poor man has cancer and has had previously had to contend with two covid lockdowns (during which he and his staff continued to offer a takeaway service and delivered free food to older and vulnerable residents in the village), a destructive fire at The Chequers, which took months to rectify, huge energy price increases and the cost of living crisis.
He must be devastated if this does mean the loss of his business and I feel people should have shown some more compassion towards him.
If The Chequers has closed permanently it means that in just the last few years the village has lost its bank (even the cash machine was removed), the post office (which has been relocated a mile way to a local petrol station - far enough away that elderly residents can't walk to it), a tea rooms, our local restaurant and even the public toilets - which has been converted somewhat incongruously into a house!
So when I remembered this slightly disheveled sign we have on our stairwell at home I knew that would be my blip image for today - sometimes all you can do is to try and get your head up, keep calm, carry on and hope that tomorrow will be a better day.