No Place For My Friend In The Hague
I went to Eastfield this afternoon to get some bits and pieces. It’s a shopping centre, that my friend from The Hague wouldn’t like. It may have a John Lewis and a Lakeland, but there is no TK-Maxx.
Not What To Wear Today!
I saw this lady on the DLR at Custom House station.
Not What To Wear Today!
Luckily she’s only an advert!
Otherwise she’d have frozen stiff.
Marks And Spencer Go Dutch
The instructions on my dinner tonight from Marks and Spencer are in English, French and surprisingly Dutch.
Does that mean their food shops are going to The Netherlands and/or Belgium?
This old news item in the Independent confirms that they are looking in The Hague and Rotterdam.
But then the CEO of Marks and Spencer is Dutch! Is that a form of nepotism to open in your own country?
Fatal Blow For John Lewis Store At Sprucefield
This is the headline over a report on the BBC web site. It concerns the political arguments about John Lewis opening a department store in Northern Ireland.
Personally, I think they would be very brave to do it, given the stupid fuss being created by so-called Loyalists about the flying of flags.
The article does suggest John Lewis might open in the Republic. Now that would probably be a sounder business decision, as the only organised violence there generally happens at places like Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium.
Ipswich Town Signing Tells It As It Is!
Ipswich Town’s new signing, Aaron Maclean is reported to be critical of the shopping in the town centre.
T’was ever thus! And it’s not just the shopping, but the pubs and restaurants as well!
When I first started drinking in the early1960s, I was living in Felixstowe. At that time pubs in Suffolk closed at eleven, but those in Ipswich closed half-an-hour early. So no-one in their right mind invested in pubs in the town. What made matters worse, was the great rush out to the county to get an extra half-hour of drinking time.
Before, I was a coeliac, when C and I lived north of the town in the 1970s and 1980s, we rarely ate there and if we did it was usually in the Golden Panda, a restaurant where we knew the owner and the establishment gave a name to one of our horses.
Although, we both worked there, except for Boots and Marks and Spencer, I doubt we ever bought anything of substance there.
Now I just go for the football and always arrange any meal before I get to the town, as it is a veritable gluten-free desert. People have tried to open decent restaurants but only a couple have lasted. If you want a good meal, you go a few miles outside the town.
Ipswich suffers too because of rivalry with Bury St. Edmunds. Ipswich has the trains, the football club, the port and perhaps a better hospital, whereas Bury has a cathedral, the beer, much better shops and a pro-business Council. The only other thing better in Ipswich is the street sculpture and the art galleries. Ipswich used to have Suffolk’s only airport, but it shut that, as the Council decided it was just rich men’s indulgences.
I blame the Council of the latter part of the last century. They were so anti-business, that even though we had created a hundred or so jobs in the town, we got no co-operation and help, as they wanted real manufacturing jobs. Their great saviour was Robert Maxwell, who effectively did nothing for Ipswich except shut Ransomes and Rapier.
The Shops Are Closing
There are a lot of empty shops in the UK with m ore closing, according to various reports like this.
They’ve just had a town centre manager giving his views on BBC Breakfast.
No wonder shops are closing with this view from a real dinosaur in Bury. It was all about anchor tenants, large chains and advertising bringing in the punters.
Shopping must be exciting and fun and you don’t get that in chains!
It should also be chugger and smoke-free, with good public transport.
Yesterday, I needed to get a few food items, so I went to Finsbury Pavement in the City. I got a bus to outside the large Marks and Spencer there, did my shopping, then crossed the road to get my return bus from the other side of the road.
Now that is what I call convenience shopping! I could have had a coffee and visited any one of about thirty other shops in the area.
There are a few chains there, but they are ones I use like Maplins, Boots, Gap and O2 in addition to the excellent Marks.
I’ve never seen a chugger there either and smokers aren’t that common.
The only problem is that there isn’t a good gluten-free cafe, except Starbucks or by walking through to the Barbican or Spitalfields. But at least the Starbucks doesn’t masquerade as a public toilet.
Is This Going To Be My Worse New Year’s Eve Ever?
I don’t know, but let’s face it the weather doesn’t get any better as the day rumbles on. When I went to Otto’s Pizzadrome, it wasn’t raining, but when I left God was sending every bit of water, she could in our direction. As I got the bus home, intrepid tourists from Asia were braving the rain on a tour bus.
Intrepid Tourists
I can never understand people using tour buses in London, as you get almost as good a view from some of the regular buses, like the 38 with its New Buses for London and the 9 and 15, with its fifty year old Routemasters. And of course you never get wet! Surely someone must have written a book about touring London by Oyster on buses, trains, trams etc.
When I went out an hour or so ago to get a few bits at the littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner, it was still raining madly and I got wet in the short walk to the shop.
So I did the lazy thing and got the first bus I found, which was a 43 going past Carluccio’s at Upper Street, but in the wrong way to get home.
I just had a coffee there and then sneaked down the side of the building to the Essex Road to get a 38 bus home. It was a bit of a detour and it cost me the price of a coffee, but at least I got home in a dryish state.
I doubt, I’ll venture out again, unless it really does stop raining. I have a fish pie, if I need something substantial, but otherwise, I’ve some eggs, bread and a small tin of beans. And of course, plenty of beer and Aspall’s cyder.
So does this look like it’s going to be my worst New Year’s Eve?
I think not! Unless of course, a Jumbo Jet should land on my house or some other serious disaster happens!
I had some pretty bad ones as a child, as my parents didn’t really do New Year, although I did have a couple of good ones in my late teens serving in The Merryhills at Oakwood. The least said about one evening there, the better!
C generally wasn’t in to New Year either, except when we used to go hunting as a family on New Year’s Day. We also had some good ones when we managed to get away to places like Majorca or Venice, but for the last twenty years or so with horses, they usually came first. And a couple of those in particular were pretty grim, as it never stopped raining, and there were masses of horses to muck out and feed.
So on a scale of one to ten, I suspect tonight will be about five, whilst I’ve had a few very low scores in my time.
I hope, I haven’t spoken too soon.
Bawling Out Wares In Oxford Street
At the tacky end of Oxford Street towards, I heard a lot of commotion going on. It was comng from this shop selling perfumes.
Bawling Out Wares In Oxford Street
It was an old-fashioned trader bawling out his wares. I haven’t heard or seen anything like this since they used to get rid of crap in a shop called King Kong in the main shopping street in Liverpool in the 1960s.
An Early Morning Raid On Waitrose
This morning I needed the usual Saturday morning shopping and as I’m going to Wolverhampton later this morning to see Ipswich play, I went to Waitrose early.
Or should I say two Waitroses, as due to their stocking policy, neither stocks all of my favourite gluten-free brands. First it was a visit to the littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner.
Highbury Corner littleWaitrose
All I bought was a Genius brown loaf, as my previous one was past my view of an eat-by date. It was then on a 43 bus to the Angel.
A 43 Bus To The Angel
And a walk round the corner to one of the smallest proper Waitroses in the country.
Waitrose At The Angel
I got the rest of my shopping here.
Just One Bag And A Loaf
It was just one small bag and a loaf, when I got home.
I suppose I could go to another bigger Waitrose, but then I’d have the problem of finding things in an unfamiliar store. And the Genius brown bread, seems to only be in the littleWaitroses. and decent gluten-free sausages don’t seem to be in any shop in London.
I think the bread and sausage problem is the same. Waitrose believes it’s own brands are good. They are very very wrong!
At least today, I didn’t have to get any EatNatural cereal, as you can only get the vinefruit flavour in Sainsburys. At least it’s at the Angel next to the Waitrose.
The chuggers were also still in their beds.
Where Are The Chuggers?
Or at least they hadn’t arrived yet!
A Pharmacy With Young Assistants Wearing High Heels?
When I first went to Liverpool, the local girls were always described as totties. So this pharmacy caught my eye in Charlton!
A Pharmacy With Young Assistants Wearing High Heels?
The explanation at the time for tottie, was that the girls always tottered on very high heels.
I suppose now, they’d be called supertotties, as the heels are so much higher.
The Anonymous Widower 