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“Oh, look at lonely people.” It was 1966 when the Beatles lamented the lonely existence and the unmorning death of Eleanor Rigby, and tea would have cost you a few pennies. Maybe a chat with the waitress at a cafe or someone at a nearby table meant a lot to our Eleanor.
For about a decade I enjoyed interacting with the older Eleanors, who nurses a lovely hot kappa in a cafe along the way of school for my kids. The tea cost pounds and a large plate of ham, eggs and chips was on fire. During the long abuse of the British winter, it was comfortable there. The toddler created an elderly smile. It was heaven – not inspiring music, just the sounds of human voices – and it even managed to withstand the surgery as the cafe in question was on a branch of our local Sainsbury.
That was until Sainsbury’s cafe replaced Costa, where tea regains £3.20, with most of the sandwiches lying north of £5. I won’t go anymore. Also, there are few of my kids, the family of their friends, and the locals we chatted with. Sainsbury recently announced the closure of all in-store cafes.
Morrison continues now. Some of that cafes are to close. And for today’s Eleanorigbeads, “Where are you from?”, “Where are you going now?” This year, it will be a really long, cold, lonely winter to play the Beatles drums again.
It’s not news that loneliness is a major issue in the UK. The strategy to address it, launched by the government of Theresa May in 2018 and somewhat neglected since the last election, has nevertheless produced some useful research. One recent paper called for more “crushed space.” This reads informal connection locations and specific pleas for people of old and young to interact. “Seasonality” has been suggested to stop some people from socializing. In other words, when it is forgiven, give us a nice warm place to hang out together, or we will atrophy on our own.
The list of companies pledged to support measures to tackle social isolation included Sainsbury’s list. The retailer emphasized that the cafe even touted it as a good place for those who feel human contact in a slightly cold state, in every sense. That’s why. Covid-19 and costs got in the way. When I left the closure on social media, some lawmakers shared my anger. But the number of blank appearances from parts of Westminster seemed to speak a bit. “Let them eat Gale,” I guess.
But the loud phrases behind understanding bring a bit of hope for the crusaders against isolation. If I say “creating a place,” what kind of gush comes out? Charming tableware, wine glasses, and perhaps even candles and flowers? Mistake, my over-acre dinner companion. In fact, creating a place is the art of creating physical spaces that nurture and enrich the lives of our communities.
And the richest contributions tend to be small. As Jane Jacobs wrote in his 1961 masterpiece about the death and life of America’s great cities, there is a sense of unity in society. Most informal interactions are “externally trivial, but the sum is not trivial at all. … The public web of respect, trust and resources in an age of personal and neighbouring needs is not trivial at all.”
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Since the end of supermarket cafes, robot checkouts have been growing. In addition to the daily trips that once allowed our imagination Eleanor to talk to familiar people when he paid for shopping, there is no more opportunity to make all the intergenerational contact with hot, affordable meals.
hang on! I hear you cry, how about the booth? There are still cafes in our favorite Chichi supermarket in northern England. And it once again replaced self-checkout with human. Why? Customer service. “We can’t do that through a robot,” says the managing director.
Sermon, brothers booth! Planners and politicians need to create a place, but businesses can maintain existing conflict spaces. Unlike songs, I hope this is a sermon that others hear.
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