Steamroller through Loanhead......

.... this is. You just have to get out of the way.

Despite the weather, or may just to spite it, a pipe band stomps its way through the town of Loanhead in Midlothian. This is the traditional Gala Day for the town, which is known here as Loanhead Children's Day. All Gala days put the local kids at the centre of events - it's all for them but Loanhead has called their day the "Children's Day".

Close to the centre of the day are the passed mining values of the community, values the town and Midlothian in general has chosen to keep and nurture, partly out of respect for the past but also as if they stand ready to answer the call to start digging coal again, which I know many think will come when the time is right. I know of some who still have overalls hanging in wardrobes.

Mining gave these communities self-respect - they took control of their own communal destiny on the good wages miners were paid after 1945 and by electing Labour members of Parliament. They built community assets - clubhouses selling low cost beer, church halls, playing fields and bowling greens - which they controlled through committees. The loss to them, of the industry which roughly nourished them, at the hands of a combination of Margaret Thatcher (she knew what she did) and uncaring world markets did not deal it a death blow however. A combination of government support, local energy and the reapplication of the skills of the mining industry has resulted in a community with many new qualities and happily it has kept many of the ones it had.

As someone who still inhabits the line between the Working and Middle classes, part of me loves these days and the respect for the children they display. This day and the preparation for it instils a deep love of the town for all who take part. And part of me sees it as something from the past with values that I don't aspire to, me being a snob an' all that.

My Dad always pointed out that he was not working class out of choice; he always sought something better than he was handed when he came in to the world. Such communities as Loanhead savour the hardship of mining almost as an addiction and have used the prosperity to reinforce their delightful iniquities and refine their previous day to day existence which still contains many unhealthy habits.

What makes me smile a wry smile is the plight of the incoming professionals of Edinburgh who have spilt out of expensive Edinbugh into new, high value housing in Loanhead and how they follow the days events with perfunctory interest if their child is involved. It's as if they want to be part of it but can't quite get in...... old Loanhead simply doesn't like new Loanhead. "Ye dinnae, look like us, talk like us, drink like us, na nuthin'. I didnae ken yer fither so I dinnae ken you." They can't become part of Loanhead and will forever be in a posh Ghetto until their children are absorbed into the community, if they allow it.

Thanks for reading.