Oh heck, that was HOT!!!

22 December

We went shopping later on last night and now we have finished with it all for the coming weekend. While we were out I got a wee bit hungry so I bought one of those pre-packed salads so many places sell these day. Yes, I know, very lazy way do a salad. But the offer was two for £5, so I did get two and had one of them last night at home, the one with the shorter use by date on it. It was fine really, but very hot! The one I had was a sweet chilli salad, and it really was a lot hotter than I thought it would be. I shall have the second one tonight around 7pm.

I’ve been banging on about waste for some time now, and right now I’m more than a bit miffed by the supermarkets. You see, I do like kale, and I like watercress, but I don’t buy them simply because Jan isn’t keen on either and in the large bags the supermarkets have on sale, there’s far too much for just one person. It’s the same with all their pre-packed veg though. A bag of carrots and parsnips is far too big for one person and they can go off if they are not eaten quickly enough. It’s time for them to start doing smaller packs, but until then, I suppose I shall just have to buy them loose, thereby using more placci bags.

Bridgnorth in Shropshire is a nice little town on two levels on the banks of the River Severn. The town is linked to Kidderminster by the Severn Valley Railway. However, like so many other towns all over the country there is an increasing number of empty shops in the town centre. There are so many different reasons as to why our town centres are quietly dying like this, internet shopping is just one of them. The out of town shopping centres are also partly to blame.

Local authorities are not doing much to help either. Dorktown council is increasing the parking charges yet again; I’m sure others are doing the same too. Why pay even more to park in town when you can park for free in Asda or Sainsburys carparks, especially if you are going in to town just for around 30 or 40 minutes? And then of course there are business rates that they all have to pay. The amount of rates is always one of the biggest groans from shop keepers.  

But I wonder if some smaller shop keepers are doing as much as they could to keep customers returning day after day, week after. The only fishmonger in Dorktown now is in Asda. Coleman’s gave up the fight a few years ago, and yet whenever I went past there or called in for something, they never had what I wanted. At one time, when they were on Queens Road, they also sold fruit and veg and a good selection of game birds/animals. By the time they gave up, they sold on fish and a few chickens too, and even then you had to go in ask for the stuff, the window display was really poor.

There is no one answer to this situation I fear. However, a guy on the news last night said that he didn’t think that a fair number of the empty shops will ever reopen again as shops. He claimed that everyone involved needed to re-think their town centres and what they would used for. Perhaps some towns need to look at specialising in one area. Hay-On-Wye for example is full of successful book shops. I love the place. Perhaps other towns can follow their lead and turn to a single trade. Of course, that means the towns folk will have to travel elsewhere for their needs; or perhaps turn to the internet – which is pretty close to where we came in.

Today’s photo … 

Queens Road, Dorktown. TJ Hughes was closed down after less than a year; Specsavers is now closed after they moved further down to a smaller building. At least four more of those are now closed.

Today’s funny …

 Q: What do a Christmas tree and a priest have in common?
A:  Their balls are just for decoration.