The bustling Saturday market, one fruit and veg stall, one van selling fish, that is the result of Lock Down. Even the Tesco queue is sparse. The town is hiding.
The Bustling High Street. Four people in view, two others pass by, rather close I thought, and a handful wait outside 'Iceland,' six feet apart. I was glad I had visited the butcher earlier in the week, there were two customers today and I didn't wish to wait.
In Edwardian days the scene to the left was very different. Then the area was filled with cattle or sheep on this day, the public houses, three of them in the area to our right alone, filled with farmers and their men lunching, arguing and buying and selling. Today Tesco dominate. Beyond the Old Town Hall lay a 'Fair Field' where the Fair would arrive annually generating much pleasure and much money. Before the war a Cinema opened and found favour with the populace.
Having dragged myself across the park, dog walkers and a child or two with mum, and around the town I made my way home through the crowds. It was interesting how people kept a good distance from me, interesting also that when a party came close the expectation in their eyes was for me to move, not them! The other person owns the pavement even if there are so few around!
Almost opposite me stands this 'Arts & Crafts' house. This is very much in keeping with many other such houses along the main road. These were the offerings of the Courtaulds who built them for their workers. The man who got this must have been quite high up in the ranks. All feature red brick interspersed with blue and Tudor like chimneys above. The Courtaulds built houses, offered doctors, schools and even hospitals to the towns around. All such buildings are still in very good condition and still occupied.
The rest of the time is spent looking out the window wishing I had a dog to walk when the sun shone. Someone else could feed them.
5 comments:
Would you like me to send you a dog or two? Or eight and a half? Luckily they walk themselves so perhaps not quite what you had in mind.
I do wonder if this self imprisonment in the U.K. is not going a bit too far...a good walk for exercise, a trip to the park for the kids, if the distances are respected I really cannot see the harm in staying out as much as possible.
And are the national parks closed? I would have thought them an ideal resource for people stuck in towns, perhaps in small flats, and if you have to drive to get there, who else are you contaminating?
You could sort out car parking by doing what our supermarkets do...placing a pallet in each alternative space.
As for people expecting you to move out of the way - forget your East Coast gentility and mutter 'See you Jimmy...' while eyeballing them. That should do the trick.
Nice photographic tour of the town.
Fly, Thank you for the offer, somehow the thought of your dogs has changed my mind. The parks are now supposed to be open, police are supposed to be more thoughtful, yet I notice folks are using the parks here carefully. Few loiter, many clearly exercise. Some at least will be fitter than before.
Dave, Strange to see a market day so quiet.
It's like every day is the kind of Sunday I remember from my teenage years in Northern Ireland. I do like the Courtauld houses, pity more big companies don't provide decent accommodation for their workforces.
Jenny, Bring back those Sundays I say, well except for the football and corner shops... Nobody cares for staff today, it is now all about the Amazon way.
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