Having spent time yesterday sorting the gift and Christmas cards I was somewhat irritated to discover another niece hiding in the hills. This meant I had once again to trudge needlessly into Tesco earlyish this morning, passing the few brave souls setting out their stalls for the Christmas Saturday sales, and rush round Tesco accidentally spending another £10 on things forgotten or just wanted this morning. On the way I posted three more cards and have now half completed the job that I usually have completed by the 1st of December to everyone's annoyance. Then I discovered I need some more cards as the ones I have will not do for the folks awaiting.
My neighbours surviving flowers, three at least, are holding up well considering it is December and she has spent more on the bottle than on them this year. Only once did the ambulance call this year...
After breakfast I sauntered round the town looking at the completed stalls and in the town centre I found this Pixi (?) blowing up balloons and twisting them into shapes for the kids. One of life's simple yet easily destroyed pleasures that has delighted kids since balloons were invented. The rubber balloon was invented it appears in 1824 by Michael Faraday when experimenting with hydrogen gas however a man named Thomas Hancock developed what we now know as balloons.
In days of yore pigs bladders and cat intestines were used to make a balloon of sorts, good luck to you I say!
Food for the hungry (I didn't note the prices but a later stall was selling pies at £4 each!
A pub in the high Street! We don't have many of them do we...
I saw a sign saying "£6 a Tankard" and wondering what they meant by 'Tankard' I wandered on.
Down the far end someone was singing "It'll be lonely this Christmas" and listening to him I knew why. He was someone famous using the Elvis song to get a Christmas pension, he will succeed but not near me.
Naturally with so many kids out for the great Christmas switch on (apart from the High Street there is a technical problem) someone would be on hand to offer them a delight for a small sum of gold. There were many wandering around holding bright shaped things that Gran and Granddad (mostly granddad) had paid for. I never got one.
Nowhere near as many stall as last year, clearly some did not pay well, but one or two kids things still arrived.
On the main stage something from 'Heart FM' was singing very loudly and in a very high voice "What about Looove, What about Loooooeeeoove" over and over again. On her fortieth repetition, I did not notice any verses in between, it crossed my mind of an explanation as to why she was not receiving the 'Loooove' she desired. As she finished many in the audience applauded. I remain unclear whether this was because of the singing or because she ceased singing. 'Heart FM Essex' is not a station I listen to as I have a musical ear and I do not wish it damaged.
Such events fill a gap in small towns and please the few decent shops that remain. I wandered of to buy a few more cards and then into Sainsburys for the chips I forgot this morning and left them to it.
I expect similar stalls next week will be out and possibly with Christmas lights up everywhere, but I probably will not notice...
I shuffled into work half asleep this morning. An air of quietness permeated the building, the kids are all back in school! Add to this the girls were out 'ten-pin-bowling' last night there were a few hangovers draped over desks this morning. I assisted by adding my cheery personality and was immediately shown the door and the way to Tesco for milk, an operation even I could manage.
Wrong!
I found the milk, checking for the furthest off date, and headed for the self service checkout. I put the item through and it all stopped. I stopped, the machine stopped, I did it again and stopped with the machine not even bothering to start. Then as I realised the price was showing I placed the bottle to my right as you do. It was at this point the young lass came to my aid, indicating the bottle ought to have gone to my left, not the right where an old basket was left and "You can't get the staff" was muttered under her breath. I paid my money, eventually as the brute asked several questions about bags and cards first before my change arrived and I headed for the door, the lass pointing me in the right direction in the fashion women have when dealing with men.
Naturally with the kids being away I expected a quiet day of gossip with Peggy, however she was unavailable today and instead of sitting sipping tea and meeting a few visitors I was kicked out once again! Laura sent me out to take photos for a project she is working on. Naturally I could not refuse her, she would break both my legs if I did, so off I jolly well went, uncomplaining, unfed, and without any tea.
A trail around town for kids has been prepared to reveal to them the things they see everyday as they pass by. Or something like this. Pictures, descriptions, all written in language kids understand will enable them to know their history better, or at least this is the intention. So I had to take appropriate pics here and there.
How come when wandering through the town daily I never meet anyone? Today while on a project I met several off the better classes! This thankfully hindered my work and allowed me to rest for no good reason. This Lane was once a road which has lain here for many, many years I sometimes wonder how many and was home to many works of various kinds. Now it houses a fancy shopping centre, that's progress.
The kids will know the church dates back at least 800 years, possibly much more and the fountain with the gay looking chap playing with fish was built to improve the area, the slums that once stood here being demolished in the 30's. You will notice there is no water in the fountain, too many have been putting washing up liquid in the water where the detergent has damaged the pipes. Now they complain it does not work but as soon as it does some berk will once again have it flowing with bubbles.
Something schools ought to consider is the 'Cage' or 'Lock up' once all villages in the area had one, many still stand happily, this was where folks, usually drunk, were locked up for the night in one of the two six foot cells therein. Once the police station was built they lost some of their usefulness. The much changed road on which this stands contained several public houses of dubious reputation, we know they were dubious as three had nicknames, 'Little Hell,' 'Big Hell,' and 'Perdition!'
It was better in the old days...
If they make it this far the kids will find on one side of the street 'Courtaulds' final mill. The firm had been in the town and in many towns round about for over two hundred years. Factories abounded and offices were found all over the world. Sadly during the period after the war all this died away and the company was sold and resold to various businesses and this mill closed in the early 90's.
What cannot be seen now is the number of houses that once stood in front of the Mill along the wall on the left. There were several there until improvements were made for the motor car. It is almost difficult to believe that houses would be there but pictures exist and somewhat downtrodden they looked.
Right opposite the very busy road lies the Silk Weaving Mill, two large white wooden buildings with sheets of window all the way along. Once 'Warners Mill' was engaged on making robes and decorations for royal coronations and now it has also died away, foreign competition, from whom we stole the silk worms in the past many years ago, claimed back their dominance of the industry. This building houses both offices and flats, the other offices and the 'Warner Textile Archive,' part of the museum and useful for women interested in courses on all sort of wool, silk, thread and such like hobbies. Many courses take part here through out the year.
Then it was off home to fiddle with the pictures and by the grace of God I worked out how to do this properly for once. Then I sent the boss the pics by email and limped back to work. Here I found myself totally out of routine as I had been out an hour and a half and (still without tea) returned to the usual confusion.
However an attractive young lady came in and immediately caught my attention, my tea was forgotten especially as she came in to check on one or two of the Christmas items (that's Christmas!) and by the time she had left she had parted with almost £42, I say almost as she got a penny change. Soon after she sent her friend in who also paid £20 for one of the events. I took more money in ten minutes than some days I take in a week!
The problem came when she asked if she could pin up a notice, we let folks do this, and I took this and looked for a space. The notice concerns a book reading group that meets in a pub once a month, hmmm... However I looked for 'Blu Tack' to attach the notice to the only space left on the wall and not one blob of the stuff either blu or White could be found in the drawer, and I raked the entire drawer. Mentioning this to the boss she looked in said drawer and produced the entire packet of 'Blu Tack' that sat their in front of me.
They sent me home after that...
Wandering through our exciting town centre I came across a couple of Alpaca's sitting in a small cage wondering what they were doing there. Beside them a couple of not to keen goats stared at the kids touching them and in a cage were four small birds, quail possibly but I am not sure, no notice was seen. The centre often has animals but for what reason these appeared was not clear, the place was not too busy either, maybe the animals scared folks off?
The locals have been at it again. They spend an enormous amount of time looking at old photos and grumbling "It was better back then," or "Life was easier," and "It was safer then." Each shop picture brings groans that "I preferred the little shops," "Bring back small shops" "It's all Tesco's fault!" The thing that bugs me is the reason there is no small shops is the peoples decision to shop at Tesco! Small shops cannot compete with the like of large supermarkets, though we still have a butchers on the go, and he is struggling because so many use the supermarkets as they are cheaper!
The woman who once wandered around carrying a heavy shopping bag or two visiting the grocer, the baker and the ironmonger were happy to be chatted up by each money grabbing shopkeeper who paid his staff the least he could while dodging tax as much as possible yet if they had to do this today they would avoid it as Tesco is easier! Yet they still grumble "It was better back then!" Aye it was as you were seven years old and your mum carried the bags!
Old photos bring the cry "It was better back then" more than the shops ad I must explain to these dreamers that the old men in the photos are grumbling to the kids round about that "It was better in the past!" People don't want to believe me, we believe what we wish to be true rather than facts which upset us by removing the dream. The past was never better it is just our better lives were found there, and we have forgotten the fears, poverty and long hours adults had in the past. How strange that wealthy fat people long for a time when they would be struggling all day and never give thanks for what they actually have in front of them, we just spend time wishing we had something else, something more! The rich and well fed are more unhappy than the poor!
What is the difference between an Alpaca and a Llama anyway...?
I now know! Alpacas were bred for the wool and some meat, the Llama as a beast of burden, camel like. One male Llama in amongst sheep or goats protects the herd very effectively from predators. Some are found in the UK I hear. Llamas are of course bigger than Alpacas.
I ventured out to the 'Pound Shop' early this morning in an effort to finish my Christmas shopping. The usual Christmas scenes were all around, shop staff in silly caps and bright red decorated jumpers, people bustling past unconscious of others, garish 'offer' signs in shops, a grotty grotto in the town centre, Christmas trees and lights aplenty and of course a couple of reindeer.
Last year the shopping centre brought in a couple of reindeer, possibly the same ones here this year, and I came laden out of the shop to find they had arrived in front of me.
Trying to get a decent picture of the three beasts while they insisted of keeping their heads down while they stuffed their faces. I suspect that is the usual manner for the beasts when they arrive somewhere new and encourages them to settle in.
The kids of course enjoyed it! All around the small compound folks gathered, cameras (phones) in hand, all clicking away obtaining pictures just like mine. The kids touching did not appear to bother them, this one was happy enough while this kid had a touch, the safety of the barriers were not to protect the kids, I suspect they were for the sake of the reindeer!
Last year they took the things for a walk around town and I suppose they did the same again this year. In a local town full of London overspill there are another group of reindeer appearing next week, Grampian Reindeer' I was told. They must be tougher as they pull a sled with kids in it. The sled here just lay there as far as I could see.
I was surprised at how small reindeer are. In my mind they are as tall as a horse but in reality they are only three or so feet high, the antlers of the big one would increase the height, they were about two feet long.
The trio had little desire to investigate the folks watching, just the wee one poking his nose out at the other side. The straw was more interesting to them and whatever was in the bucket appeared to satisfy. Nice to see these here and enjoyed by all even though no indication was shown as to their flying ability.
Now that I had espied reindeer i needed to espy veg. So off I trotted to my fruit & veg man for a £5 supply for the week. The goods here are not always as good as Tesco's but much cheaper and worth it in my view, especially if you realise what fruits will not last beyond tomorrow breakfast!
A last glimpse of the sun brightening the town, it always amazes me how even the roughest areas can be improved by sunlight, and then a wander home to finish the Christmas wrapping.
The mist tempted me out again today, as far as the shop wherein bread could be found! Afterwards I busied myself at home doing those things that have not been done. They still haven't!
The speed of the laptop varies as the day goes by, maybe it will settle down soon? In the meantime I took advantage to begin scrawling a wee thing about remembrance for the museum and the media. I pass it too the boss who translates it into newspeak and they either change it again or ignore it.
As it is I have yet to finish it as I forgot half the stuff I should have used. Bah!
Sometimes places look better in the mist or the dark don't ya think?
Not that the few out and about cared, another Monday trek to work with bleary eyes and cold feet was their lot. A few cars, some key holders opening the shop, well opening it enough to get in and put the kettle on and find the coffee while waiting for the staff to arrive full of cheer.
The damp streets would not encourage folks to leave centrally heated homes and the mist out there on the wet roads did encourage at least four accidents from half asleep drivers not considering the word around them. Mondays they say are the worst days for accidents, tiredness, bad mood and weather conditions combine, although a degree of left over beer can also remain and affect drivers. These are not days to be ambulancemen or traffic police! It is not the day to be a bus driver trying to keep to his time either, the mist and the accidents ruining the day.
This of course is Halloween, the latest fad for taking money from stupid people. The absurd horror pictures filling facebook & twitter, the vast sums spent on dressing up and even more spent avoiding kids Guising (I refuse to use the American term) as well as nobody actually understanding what all this is actually about takes some beating. Tomorrow it will all be gone and while most of it is fun for kids there are those who will be enticed into dangerous areas through such activities. What was once a pagan get together, possibly with a fear of evil involved, is now a party in which real demons do indeed entice some.
Churches of course usually have alternative activities for kids, some even regard it a All Hallows day, from which Halloween comes, and those who actually benefit most are the makers and retailers of all the garbage that suddenly fills the shelves, shelves which by this time tomorrow will be packed with Christmas goodies.
Good luck to you!
Having cycled speedily to church this morning I sat there for the next hour nursing my knees, lovingly no-one offered to nurse them for me. This exercise idea is all right I suppose but there are problems. However we had an excellent morning and I only kind of fell out with one person today so things are improving... I cycled back the long way round enjoying the sun while it lasts and then I spent the rest of the day watching football and nursing my knees.
Tonight however as twilight fell I got the rusty bike out and pedalled slowly, oh so slowly, half way up the old railway to seek a photo. They are not quite how the sky actually was at the time but give the general idea. The top one is my favourite, that s close to reality.
The sky is always worth looking at whatever time of day or whatever season we are in. Looking one way gives a different sky from looking in the opposite direction, the colours vary with the slight movement of the sun. Of course at dusk things do get darker which explains why the supper chasing blackbirds almost had my front wheel upon them.
In the cool of the day everything is changed. Being Sunday few are about, kids at home doing the forgotten homework, people preparing for work, rubbish TV being endured. This means the streets are very quiet, so quiet in the distance the rumble of the bypass can be clearly heard as movement continues elsewhere out of town. In town few move, some laughter from the pubs open doors is heard, an occasional clink of glass, a barking dog in the distance enjoying freedom in the park, a huddle of youth carrying their secrets guiltily pass by scowling at one and all, lights can be seen in the local church for evening service, a bus containing one passenger slowly fulfills its duty passing in the opposite direction from a lone cyclist worrying about how his knees will feel in the morning.
The quiet cool of the day, possibly equal to the early Spring morning in beauty.
One of the threads on the Braintree Facebook page recently has been photographs taken over the town in days of yore. One chap has cleverly enlarged some sections for us and enabled a better look into the peoples past.
This picture features the town centre (well almost) in 1952 and shows a vastly changed image from any similar one taken today. Where trees and meadow exist now stands a 'Sainsburys' complete with car park and for the locals so many changes to a town they once knew. I suspect all of us would see the place we grew up in as vastly different to what is on offer today. If I returned to Edinburgh I would note the basic layout to be the same but so many things have changed, no different for those who once played on the streets here. Mind you if they played on the streets they would be in trouble as traffic was busy enough even then, our perception of traffic changes more than the actual traffic in my view. A mothers fear for her young while ten cars an hour pass along is no better than her fear when hundreds pass.
The museum is funnily enough sited in the middle of this section of the picture. Once a small school the four pointed arches above the windows remain but all around them has changed considerably. The playground and buildings on the other side of the road are now a car park however the market day is still under way so this picture was taken on a Wednesday or Saturday, Wednesday is my guess.
The bus park remains but I suspect the prices have increased.
The world has changed considerably since 1952 when I was still learning to walk. A war had just been won, rationing was in place, a huge rebuilding work was happening almost everywhere and war damage to the town can be seen in some of the empty spaces. To be a builder at that time must have been a kind of heaven. In 1951 Harold MacMillan was given the task of creating three million homes and he did so by 1953 and later went on to become Prime Minister. He would be better thaan the money grubbing one we have today. MacMillan it must be said was well to the left of David Cameron, indeed he was further to the left of many in the Labour party today as he had a concern for the lower orders and wished to offer better conditions, unlike those who appear to merely line their pockets today.
Yes Jeremy Hunt I mean you!
Those who grew up in the fifties have a different outlook to those who grew up in later decades. The wealth amassed by the west during the decades of peace have driven us mad. Wealth brings a strange security that vanishes like the mist as it did in 2008 when the world collapsed. However the belief that we ought to be wealthy and have whatever we want remains and people will still spend what they have not got or use credit to get it. Sometimes I'm glad I'm poor although if anyone has a spare million I will accept it.
What will the town, now 40,000 strong, be like in another fifty years? Still the same basic layout and ... then what?
The problem with having Christmas on a Thursday is that it leaves the feeling of two weekends placed together. While Christmas Day sees folks visiting one another and Boxing Day offering more visits or crushed in shops for shiny things the town remains quiet. Today it was so quiet the market did not take place, a rare event that, possibly because some stalls had been here for the previous week, but few were to be found strolling through the few open shops. Sunday tomorrow so a quiet time for those not watching football on TV on visiting the churches.
The weather does not help. After the remarkably warm year the weather girls have been telling us of the 'cold snap' that has hit us now. 'Cold snap?' It's Christmas! The Christmas type pictures show heaps of snow everywhere so how come we face a 'cold snap' in December? This reminds me of the 'Daily mail' story warning of three months of bitter cold weather lay ahead. As one of their commentators pointed out that meant December, January and February! Usually in the UK this refers to what we call 'winter!' It is possible the people at the 'Daily Mail' were not aware of this, thinking is not their strongest attribute.
However the north wind howling through the window has meant me leaving the curtains in place today, darkening the inner sanctum but avoiding frostbite and the need to keep the heating on all day. However that pullover is not as yet being put to use!
I started my diet today, have you begun yours....?
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I met this old bird in town today, he didn't say anything and was not all that keen on his visitors. As the dear kiddies are off school this week for yet another holiday (teachers have such an easy life don't they?) the shopping centre in town puts on events. Yesterday a couple of shetland ponies from a rescue centre ignored the kids and today a menagerie appeared. White ducks, rabbits, a bored dog, sheep, chickens and a goat or two, oh and a bored pony. Small pens kept the beasts from the animals (yes that is the right way round) and it reminded me of the old pictures of the town when market day really was a market. Similar stalls stood in front of the pubs while folks sold sheep, pigs, horses and cattle. The pubs did a roaring trade as they fed and watered those coming a distance to market. The Victorian way was everybody around one big table and eating when the landlord got things ready. I think such a scene happened in one of Dickens books but I may be wrong.
Goats and horses are always happy together I am informed by those who know, this pair prove that. Possibly bored, possibly just weary they made it difficult to obtain a picture when both had eyes open. The little pony and his mate were content however and the pony happily rested on his mate. Interesting how these two creatures get along so well.
The other big chick was not much more impressed than his friend. I suppose as I was discussing preparing 'Cock-a-leekie' soup with a woman he was offended. I had to be careful with the explanation of the soup also, English women are not very bright at times. Still he was a beauty of a bird and both have been well prepared for their day out. I suspect they both have practiced that suspicious expression of theirs for some time as it was very wary. I was surprised at just how big two these birds were however, this is not how I imagined them up close.
I always considered such beasties as wee birds, or at least not this size! Possibly they are shown at er, shows, as well as paraded around for the kids. I am quite glad they chose not to show us just how loud they could be however. Every so often a news report indicates newcomers into the country have complained to the local council re the noise of such birds crowing early in the morning. Some have been known to grumble, which I never do, about cows 'mooing' too loudly in the fields nearby. Not that long ago a young couple objected to a town clock that insisted on chiming every 15 minutes and clanging away on the hour! Now if you retire to the country for peace and quiet you might well find it but if you don't do the homework a council, on some occasions a judge, will tell you to move back into town if you can't stand chickens or cows. They make noise, that is what animals do! A clock that has rung continually for a couple of hundred years will not cease because you are a spoilt brat either.
That said I am glad to have found the beasties. It brightened up a poor day. The brain is not quite functioning yet as the bug still leaves my mind weary and I have written and rewritten the intro to the war for the museum exhibition booklet around a hundred times, and that only this morning! That was the reason I went out, to oxygenate my brain. It failed. I'm going back to bed.
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Well not as much of an extravaganza as we had hoped. The town lit the Christmas lights tonight and this meant the museum joined in. Marcel offered his Punch and Judy, balloons and stuff, fun and games were on offer and the Twirling lassies performed. However it appears most who came into town were drawn away from us by the variety of attractions elsewhere. The shop was nowhere near as busy as hoped and far too few of the regulars were around today. This Sunday, being the first of the month has tempted everybody to put on a show at the same time and left us all bereft. Enough came to make it worth their while and we were happy chatting to those who arrived. Much of the early morning was spent attempting to get three 'pricing guns' to work. I feel we failed at that! How is it that something that is so easy to operate is impossible to reload? Not one person had any idea, and four of us were at it at one point! They still don't work, probably caused by the bashing they received.
They would not let me on the train! Pity, I like trains and as a kid always thought these roundabout wonderful attractions. The other open with variety of transport on board used to fascinate me, especially if we could climb upstairs. The kids love them still, and only £2 a go, we used to pay 3d if I remember right.
The girls attempted to do the Majorettes thing in spite of the cold sunshine. Few were watching bar passersby heading into town, probably to the coffee stalls. The girls appeared happy enough and I am told get around the country doing their show.
Some of the usual stalls appeared, all the way from Italy, via north London I expect. Vast array of goodies on show which are beyond my miserly pocket. This is a shame because all the fattening bread they and others offer I find delightful. Mind you it does cost over £3 a go!
I reckon this van did itself a lot of good today. Both they and the fudge stall next door must have loosened a few purse strings, especially as they were right in the centre of activity. Parents were pulled this way and that by eager kids, an occasional balloon would escape the owners hands flying, Helium powered, high into the sky, leaflets were shoved into unwilling hands for this and that, stallholders cries were renting the air, machinery ground away as turntables ran their course and almost smiling security men wandered, alert, through the throng. It was good to see happy families with the kids, well cared for it appeared, occasional adolescents in the throes of first love strolled shyly hand in hand, six foot snowmen and furry animals greeted young children while the balloon seller wandered abroad with twenty balloons high above him leaving me wondering why he does not take off? I left early as there were plenty of peoples to deal with things and headed home for the football, about which nothing shall be said. The rest entertained with a choir, offered hot punch and lit the lights on the tree outside. The council enlivening the decorations with blue lights on the town centre trees as opposed to an actual Christmas one (which of course has nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas!). They looked good and I went out in an attempt to picture them.
The night pictures are not too successful tonight as I did not take the time, too much clearing up going on and vehicles knocking me over were a bit of a nuisance. However the roundabout was not too bad.
The place is quickly bereft as folks race home to eat their fill. The kids grasping those balloons, some shaped by Marcel into dogs, spacecraft or swords, mum wondering if they are going to sleep with their faces painted like tigers or clowns, parents happy to get their feet up and watch trash on the telly. For many an enjoyable day out.
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