Hansville has been described in many ways, depending on your feelings for our little town. Some say it’s at the edge of the no-where, and some say it’s our little slice of Heaven. And some just live here because it’s so friendly — nevermind those naysayers that want to reinvent the wheel every time they open their mouths.

Our downtown area has been taking quite a beating in the last few years because of the two sides — for and against — the speed tables and because Cliffside has had the same inputs. Now the downtown has a new addition a traffic light. Well, OK, it’s on wheels and won’t stay permanently but we now have a traffic light, which means we have made it – whatever “it” is.

A little background about Hansville. If you live in Cliffside or Shorewood or maybe the Foulweather Bluff area, you might not drive through beautiful downtown Hansville to reach the outside world. You probably take the road that turns into Little Boston and ends at the highway — and you’re enjoying that new road and how nicely the county fixed-up the surrounding area with grass.

However if you live at Point-No-Point or along Twin Spits Road, or if you are going to the Hansville Church, you have noticed the excavation going on at the Hansville Store. The county is cleaning up old residue from what was once a fuel dispensing site. And that brings us to the traffic lights.

Because the excavation needs to be completed on both sides of the highway, just where it turns into Twin Spits Road, and the fact that this makes for only one-lane available for traffic, and the fact that a person standing there for twenty-four hours a day flashing their “SLOW” and “STOP” signs isn’t very practical, the conractor has wheeled in two traffic lights. One is in front of the soon-to-be-deli and the other is in front of the church. Pretty spiffy I say.

Of course the lights are on a timer so that first the light on the Twin Spits end turns green so traffic can go through or can go to the Hansville store or the post office. Then, after a short interval, the light goes to yellow then red, and then the light on the highway end — in front of the soon-to-be deli — does its thing and that traffic proceeds.

So in my estimation, Hansville is now really a big little town with everything.

Don’t scoff. We do have everything. We have a place for mailing letters, for fishing and boating and walking and running and going to church, for buying a latte or sandwich or a bottle of wine, for getting your hair cut or curled, a place to get your car fixed, and there is the touring of the historic lighthouse, and now, we have a traffic light.

What more could you ask Santa for in this perfect place where we live?

Reach columnist Donna Lee Anderson at welltoldtales@aol.com.