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Carol (and Peter)
[Cavtat,
Llangollen, Family, Urbanization]
by Vinko Rožić
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Carol and Peter are from Llangollen, North Wales and have
visited Cavtat several times. They have kindly offered us their thoughts on
Cavtat, Llangollen, family, urbanization.
CP: Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
C:My name is Carol and I am married to Peter and we live in a small village
in North Wales. We have two children, (not that they are children at 43 and
40! ). We have three grandchildren, one of which joined the British Army
last January 2008. Charlotte, who has joined the army and is 17, Shannon,
16, who is sitting her big exams this summer and is hoping to go into the
police force and Jordan who is 13 and wants to be a solicitor. I think he
would rather be a footballer or cricketer. Who knows, he is excellent at
both sports.
CP: What do you and Pete do?
C: Pete works in a factory about 4 miles away. The factory is quite a large
concern and produces chipboard for all major kitchen and flooring outlets.
The main factory is in Austria and there are many factories all over the
world. Pete does not have to work weekends which means that we get to go out
and about. I finished work last June. I was working in an office in
Llangollen on our little railway. The railway was closed in the 1960's when
a lot of main line railways were closed down in the UK. Our railway was
restored during the 1970's and is now a tourist attraction. It does a 16
mile round trip through some of the most lovely scenery. It is a full gauge
railway and we run full size engines along the track. I finished in June
2008 as there was new management and we all know that this sometimes does
not work.
CP: Rather well said. Among many, Joseph Pieper wrote at lenght and quite
superbly about the importance of leisure. In a few words, how do you spend
yours?
C: I spend my time painting and decorating in my home and look forward to
the summer months when hopefully, weather permitting, i will be able to get
some gardening done and sit outside and read. Sounds good!!! Pete and I love
to go walking at the weekends and bird watch. We also love to go to one of
our hotels and sit outside and have a drink. (once again, weather
permitting). We also read quite alot and spend time with the family.
CP: You guys live in Llangollen, North
Wales. I had a chance to see a photo or two of it and it's quite beautiful.
Would you tell us a bit about it?
C: Llangollen does have quite alot of similarities with Cavtat. We are only
a small village and we do get lots of tourists in the summer months. People
are drawn to Llangollen for its beautiful scenery, its lovely river which
runs through the middle of the valley, the old stone bridge over the river
and the lovely canal which is usually full of canal boats. We have a lovely
river-side park which is great for people coming to Llangollen with small
children. We have three lovely hotels which are small and only two storeys
high, in keeping with the town. It is a very old village and one or two of
the hotels used to be coaching houses as Llangollen was a stopping place for
people in the olden days traveling by horse and coach to and fro from
London.
CP: This will be your sixth time visiting Cavtat, so obviously you like the
place. A word to its people?
C: To all the people of Cavtat, thank you for being so lovely to us and we
hope you prosper during 2009. Stay safe and healthy.
'My fear for your lovely Cavtat is that it might become
over developed...
This is a problem that we have in Llangollen...
The heart seems to be slowly going out of the community'
CP: Much alike many small tourist resorts in Croatia, Cavtat
has seen its share of rapid urbanization. Coming from Llangollen, which
seems to share some common aspects with our little town, how do you view
these relatively recent developments?
C: My fear for your lovely Cavtat is that it might become over developed. We
have noticed over the last few years that more houses are being built on the
approach into Cavtat. It is such a beautiful place that it would be so awful
if more development went ahead. This is a problem that we have in
Llangollen. People from nearby cities are buying land and building houses
all over the place. This is going to ruin our village, if it has not already
done so. The heart seems to be slowly going out of the community.
CP: What kind of Cavtat would you like to see in times to come?
C: My one bit of advice to the lovely people of Cavtat is to keep your very
special place as it is. I know that hotels and shops etc. would all like to
increase their profits, but to what cost !!! I know that when you live in a
place all your life, you tend to forget how special it is until it is to
late and you look around and all the magic has gone and there is nothing but
houses, hotels etc. Keep it special and you will always have something so
lovely that people will always want to come there.
CP: Thank you Carol, and Peter. Wish you both a great stay.
Wales
Llangollen
Urbanization Print This Article
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