Recently I've moved away to an island, it is composed of two mountains connected by an isthmus. The island's only town, Hopesdale lies on the isthmus. It is not a very large town but it has quite a few amenities and is all and all a very pleasant place to live. Depending on how you chose to reach the island you will either arrive at the airport on the western edge of the mountain, or at the harbor located in town. If you fly in to the island you'll have to take the main road to get into town, on your way around the mountain you'll first go through the vineyards which are beautiful any time of year.
After leaving the mountain you will enter into Hopesdale you should be on the lookout for the police for they are always trying to get speeders as that is one of the towns main sources of income. One of the first buildings you will notice is St Maries Hospital, we call it the catholic hospital with a sense of humor. I'm not sure who named it that as opposed to something more traditional such as St Mary's but we like it all the same. It comes complete with a small ER that despite its size can handle almost anything that comes it's way. Due to some generous donations it has mostly state of the art equipment. It also has a relatively steady patient load. I can honestly say that I have never seen it empty, and that I have only once seen it full. The doctors in the ER mostly come here to start their retirement, as do the nurses. It presents a very interesting dynamic as the island EMS is provided almost exclusively by life-long residents who volunteer to help the community. Since these nurses and doctors mostly started their careers before the advent of EMS they're not quite sure what to make of us sometimes. There are occasionally conflicts when one of them questions a treatment that we provide in the field as opposed to just bringing the patient to the ER as fast as we can without any treatment provided. Usually these conflicts are short-lived and quickly resolved, and thankfully they are also few and far between.
The next building that you will be sure to notice as you travel down the main road is McKinnis's bar. This is the towns watering hole, and it has all the traditional bar fare. It hosts a weekly pool and darts tournament, and has all the big games on TV. Continuing past the bar you will next encounter St George's church. Presided over by Father Hanson this is where you will find the more religious people of a catholic persuasion every Sunday morning. For those like myself who find themselves more often than not explaining the Jewish side of things there is Temple Emanuel right across the street where every Friday night and Saturday morning you can listen to Moshe the Rabbi. I find the topic of religion very fascinating. I absolutely love to learn about and study other religions. Hopesdale is unfortunately not the most ethnically or religiously diverse community. As of the time of this writing it still only accommodates the Jewish and Catholic faiths. The library has some books from other religions such as the Quran and the Tao Te Ching, but if one wishes to study other religions your options on the island are somewhat limited. Thinking about it I do have some friends who are part of a small coven that meets occasionally on the peak of the western mountain. Usually their meetings are confined to the equinoxes the solstices and halloween. The Wiccan religion is still having some trouble finding acceptance in town. Mostly they keep their religion private and try to avoid the topic when at all possible. In spite of how open and welcoming the town can be to its residents people in this area still have some trouble accepting someone who openly identifies themselves as a witch. When a person does choose to identify themselves as such the reaction from the town is quiet. There are hushed whispers in back rooms and in shops, there are louder more opinionated conversations that take place in the privacy of peoples houses. The people almost seem somewhat fixated on the classical image of a witch, the pointed hats the riding around on broomsticks and the devil worshiping. I guess that when people are only exposed to witches on halloween, and in books and plays such as The Crucible it can be hard to accept that this might be a path that someone might be willing to take. They just cannot imagine that it is anything other than that which they have been exposed to their whole life. But still in trying to keep the spirit of the island intact they try to conceal their disapproval as much as possible.
As your journey continues you will next see the fire station, this is where I work. I work as a paramedic on the fire departments ambulance on a volunteer basis, and I work part time for a private ambulance company on the mainland. The fire station is an older building with the pictures inside dating back to the 1890's. There are two engines and an ambulance at the station and they provide coverage for the center part of the island. The equipment is somewhat old but still quite usable. I find that the fire station can be a great way to pass by an idle weekend, the call volume stays relatively low, and there is always great company to be found there. When I am at the fire station I often find myself looking at the pictures. My gaze will often drift towards the older ones. I study them intently, I look at the faces of the firefighters, and I try to imagine what that day must have been like. I feel that my imagination is somewhat limited though because for the period of time that spans from the advent of photography to 1940's I cannot conceive of a world of in colour. I have seen some pictures taken in Russia dating from 1900 to 1915 that are in clear and vivid colour that blow my mind. There is one in particular taken in 1909 of a man who worked at a floodgate, the man was eighty four years old at the time of the picture. It astounds me that the face that I am seeing in photograph, in colour is of a man who started working in 1843! This man was born before the advent of photography and here is his face in colour, when in my mind his entire life exist solely in black and white. There is one more fascination that I have with old pictures such as this, and that really comes into play with pictures of children. When I see those old pictures it occurs to me that the child that I am looking at that at the time of the picture had so much potential and had its entire life in front of him is now dead. I often times sit back and wonder, what was this child's life like? What did this child accomplish? With pictures of adults, especially when I know the life's story of the subject and the photo was taken near to the time of his death I reflect and think what plans had this individual made that were cut short, or not acted upon at all due to the unfortunate termination of his existence? This then inspire me to reflect upon my own mortality. I ask myself, what plans, or ideas do I have now that may not be fulfilled or realized do to the timing of my demise? I have heard those who advocate living your life one day at a time, as if each day was your last. But I feel that unless you are retired or preparing your self for a death that you feel to be imminent this is not the best course of action. I feel that if I approach my life this way I will never accomplish anything to hang my hat on. for anything worth doing and dedicating your life to takes much longer than one day to achieve. Maybe this view is also due to the fact that I still find the concept of death somewhat disquieting. This view might be due to my relative inexperience in life but it is still mine nonetheless. It's not that I believe that somehow I can forestall death and live for ever, I have long since come to accept the fact that it is inevitable. I can honestly say that in my line of work I have seen someone take their first breath, and I have also watched as someone has taken their last. But alas I am still somewhat uncomfortable with the thought of the termination of my own existence. Sometimes I think of Hamlet and his famous soliloquy, and I think about him finding Yorick's skull in the graveyard. Once again I find myself becoming introspective and pondering thoughts of life and death.
Further down the road to the east is the more leisurely side of town. On this side of town you will find a multi-purpose theatre which is well suited to movies, plays, and concerts. You will also find a shopping center. At this shopping center there is a chain restaurant, a some clothing stores, a music store, and an electronics store (the future is everywhere and cannot be avoided). There was some consternation in the town with the arrival of the electronics store. As I said the future cannot be avoided, but that does not mean that it is always welcome. There exists on the island a sizable population of luddites. These people are happy with the way that their life has always been. They feel that they have lived this long without computers or cell phones, and they have not had any difficulties with it. They simply wish to lead their lives as they always have. I can understand and empathize with this point of view, I almost feel it is a noble endeavor seeking to live a simpler life in a world full of technology. With the grapevine and openness on the island technology is not always necessary for instance why would the local carpenter need a webpage to advertise his wares when word of mouth works with equal if not greater effectiveness. Obviously this way of life is not suited to life in a large city, but it still suits this island fine. So you can easily understand the small uproar created when it was announced that an electronics store would be opening. In keeping with the tradition of the island it was anything if not polite. The owner of the store was called in to a town hall meeting that was easily the largest held in some time. He tried to assure people that he was only setting up shop to accommodate what he perceived as a growing demand for high quality electronics. He explained that he had no intention of forcing the future onto those who did not wish to accept it, but merely to provide a place for people who did to acquire it. Still the battle onward for another three hours, eventually the proprietor agreed that he would not advertise his shop, he did this most willingly having realized that on a small island such as this, this hearing was all the advertising he needed to establish a sizable customer base, and that word of mouth would again accomplish the rest.
Beyond that you will find the sports center, the library, and if you continue on the road, out of town and up the side of the eastern mountain you will find my house. My house is halfway up the mountain on top of a bluff overlooking the town. I have decent sized yard, and garden. but my favorite part of the house is the two trees along a low stone wall at the edge of my yard. I hang a hammock between them, and one warm sunny days I love to relax in it and look over the town and imagine what all the people are up to. You may have inferred from what I have written so far that I have a negative view of Hopesdale. This could not be further from the case, these quirks of personality exhibited by the people are exactly what I feel makes them endearing. On the whole I find that these people are warm welcoming and friendly. They may be a little set in their ways but that is who they are. Two months ago there was a fire that consumed three houses on the western mountain. The families that were displaced were taken in by the church. The church unfortunately could not provide enough food for all of the people, when word of this got out the families ended up having a feast every night with the rest of the townsfolk consisting food that was brought in by their neighbors. Last month three new houses were erected for the families on their old properties. And just today on my way home I passed a young man serenading his love under a tree. These people know how to live, and they let nothing stop them from doing that. I wandered for almost my entire life before finding this place, every where I went was nice but was still not for me. I yearned to find a place that would suite me, and then one day I came across Hopesdale. I was living in the city where I still work on the mainland, and for fun one day I sailed out to the island. I was in love with the place before I even disembarked from my boat. The style of the town is what first struck my, the architecture and how it was situated on the island were next. As I further explored the island and met its people I found myself unable to imagine living anywhere else. I still feel the need sometimes to be in a more urban environment, and to placate that I have my job on the mainland. But at the end of the day Hopesdale is my home, my Dreamthorp and I would not want it any other way.
