I live in a small town, the population count isn't that great
but let me introduce you to some of the population. We'll start with Martin the Doc, he fixes up anything that
gets poorly, so much so that he could be classed as the doctor, the vet
and even the garage mechanic. He's got a reputation that he can fix
anything and that hasn't been proved wrong yet. He's great friends with
Brian (who gets called "Brains") the teacher who seems to have a sound
understanding of any topic you care to pass his way. If he isn't sure he
tells you and then goes to find out and comes back with a full answer
real quick. Its good to have that sort of research capability close at
hand. Brains is also great at encouraging anyone who needs a bit of
support to get them up to speed and working on their jobs. Steve sees
Brains regularly, that's because he is the librarian, he keeps all sorts
of reading material and nowadays there's even video to watch about any
topic you like. Steve keeps scouring all sorts of places to get the
content that's needed and he keeps it in good order so that what ever is
needed can be found quickly. He also has to make sure that old stuff
gets marked as probably out of date so that anyone reading it wont get
mislead. Over the
road from him is Greg, he's the town crier. We don't have a newspaper
here so Greg keeps us all informed of what's going on "out of town" -
what new stuff we might make use of and what wont work in a small place
like this. If we are interested he goes ahead and gets people in to
demonstrate their products and tell us about the details. Greg is pretty good at getting
us discounts too. Now Greg's brother Ian works for the mayors office in
the "waste management department" nowadays its all about the recycling
but he still has to make sure that the stuff that cant be used any more
gets disposed of properly. It depends on the type of waste he's dealing
with that decides how it need to be treated and he has to know a lot
about the different methods and when to use which ones. There are two people that keep the peace in town, Brent is the detective, investigating wrong doings and applying justice
where necessary and Bart is the diplomat who smooths things over when
any people have a dispute or disagreement. Brent is meticulous in his
investigations and fair in the way he handles any situation he finds.
Discretion is his byword. There's a rumour that Bart used to work for
the United Nations but what ever his history there is no denying his
ability to get apparently irreconcilable parties working together to
their combined benefit. Someone who works closely with Bart is Brad, he
is the translator in town. He has several languages that he can converse
in but he can also explain things from someone's point of view or and make it understandable to someone else. To keep things on
the straight and narrow from a legal perspective is Ben the solicitor,
making sure we all abide by the rules.Two people who make for an interesting
evening's conversation if you get them together are Aaron and Grant,
Aaron is the local planning inspector and Grant is an inventor of some
reputation. Anything being constructed around here needs Aarons
agreement. He's quite flexible in his rules though; if you can justify
what you want to do with solid logic but he wont stand for any
development going on without his inclusion. That gets a demolition
notice and there's no argument. Grant as I mentioned is the inventor in
town, if something can be improved or created then Grant is your man. He
mainly works on his own but isnt averse to getting specific advice and
assistance from specialist from out of town if they can help him finish
his creations.There
aren't too many people left for you to meet in the town, there's Rob,
he's an ex professional sportsman. He played Hockey, Football, Cricket,
you name it. He was in his element as goal keeper / wicket keeper and
that shows in his personal life. He just goes about his business and
people often don't even know that he's helped them. Really low profile,
doesn't get any glory but saves people from lots of problems, even
disasters on occasion. There goes Neil, he's a bit of an odd person, some people say
he's gifted with special clairvoyant powers, personally I think he's got
his ear to the ground and knows where to find out the important news as
soon as its made public. Anyone getting a visit from Neil is best off
to follow his advice though, he's usually spot on and you wont be caught
by surprise if you follow his recommendations – wherever it comes from.Poor old Andrew is the last person to introduce you to. Andrew
doesn't show himself too often but when he does it seems that people
find a reason to blame him for their problems, whether he had anything
to do with their predicament or not. In all honesty, without fail, and
to his great credit, he takes it in good grace and never retaliates or
gets annoyed when he's out and about. It pays off too as its very often
the case that those who were blaming him recently suddenly find they
need his help and they readily forget the issues pretty rapidly.And then there's me, what do I do in town? Well, I'm just a
DBA with a lot of hats. (Jackstown Pop. 1)
