Lost skills and lottery wins (transferred from Myspace)

I've been talking to a friend today about training for a job and having some decent skills but paperwork ruining everything. As it was, I was reminded of a blog I set out on Myspace some time ago and thought it best to transfer it to here than just link to it.
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    Bear in mind I love folk music, hate multi-national conglomerates and try to buy local stuff when I can. Obviously, then, this is going to be right up my country lane.
    As it turns out, it's as much to do with Askwith's mid-life crisis and coming to terms with his father's illness and death as it is with bemoaning the loss of village life.
    However, his journeys around the (mostly Southern parts of) the country do reveal certain common themes. The closure of village shops, post offices and, most importantly it seems, schools are definite signs that a village is about to lose its 'soul'.
    Askwith doesn't come out with the reasons himself, but that's alright, because there were plenty of villagers of various temperament to place blame. Essentially, I managed to boil a book's worth of village moaning down to four causes:
    1) Cars. Everywhere has become easily accessible these days, thanks to the internal combustion engine. Now, this means that people can range a little further in their search for entertainment or supplies.
    2) Home technology. Why bother talking to people you live near when you can watch mindless celebrities 24/7 on TV or join internet communities? (er... *ahem*...)
    3) Cheaper products from elsewhere. Because it's 'less expensive' to import stuff from China, France or Argentina, local farms and manufacturers suffered and were forced to shut down. That's without all the health scares too...
    4) People just don't work in villages anymore. The farms went (previously a focal point for the community), and disaffected young people left to get jobs in the city. Even better, you get the moneyed city folk buying village properties for teeth-suckingly high prices that the real locals can't afford - but commuting every day to the towns and cities.

    People talk these days about the 'global village' and how the miracles of modern communication have made this vast world of ours smaller. I don't think it has though; Ok, so I live in a largish town, but the fact remains I'm more at ease talking to you (at least one of whom isn't even on the same continent) like this than I am to people who live two doors away from me.
    And that's not good. Which brings me to part two of this blog.

WHAT TO DO WITH A MASSIVE EURO LOTTERY WIN

    Yeah, I wish. It's not even as though I buy a ticket that often, so the odds are rather remote.
   The thing is, one of my more recent fantasies (because, let's face it, that's what they are) has been to buy somewhere in the countryside. A nice, large plot of land next to a wooded area, with a stream and/or a small lake nearby.
    And then build a house. The most carbon-neutral, free-from-the-national-grid, environmentally friendly - and yet technologically stacked - house my money could buy. With the rest(???) of the money, I would have large areas for raising some animals and growing as much fruit and veg as I could. All this would be in an area that is as wildlife-friendly as I could make (and, I suppose, stand) it.

    After having read Mr Askwith's book, I now find myself furthering this little fantasy and desiring to create a modern village - from scratch.
    This village (well, hamlet, I suppose really. It wouldn't be able to be that large) would be built along the lines that I suggested for the main house. Everyone would be working at their own tasks, but for the community's welfare. Since there would be more people, it would be possible to have larger areas for crops, so maybe a rotational system could be used there.
    Hopefully, there could be a large central hall, where evening meals could be taken and events could take place.
    The best thing about this idea for me is that people could be making use of all those skills we seem to have nearly lost and only exist as curiosities for craft fairs or BBC programmes.* Oh - and to prevent this looking utterly WASP, I would ideally like people from other cultures in there too. Just because they weren't here during the agricultural revolution, that doesn't mean to say they can't take place in my own little reactionary idea.
    And the best thing about this idea? Because the people would have to work in conjunction with each other, therein lies the kernel of a new village community.
    Well - I can dream, can't I?

*By the way, if you're interested in trying out some of those lost crafts yourself, you could do far worse than to take a look at this book.

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It certainly points me in the right direction fer a great many worthwhile activities.