Car Fails It's MoT

As I mentioned in the last post, our Hyundai Atoz was due for it's MoT over the next month or two. I had managed to book it in to have a service and MoT at Brake and Service World (T and H) where we have usually taken our vehicles for repairs, servicing and MoT's. It wasn't due to go until 11.30 a.m. so we didn't need to get up too early. The idea was that it would be tested first and then any faults that came up could be rectified to get it through a re-test. We knew it wasn't going to get through as the windscreen wipers didn't work (both front and rear) as well as a possible tyre as one at the rear is always needing taking to the local  Shell petrol station in Grafton Street to have air put in. I think this may be caused by all the speed bumps around our estate as well as the poor quality of the road surfaces around the Milton Keynes grid roads. We managed to get the car to the service centre (along Watling Street not far from the MK Stadium) by around 11.15. We had to ring for a taxi on my mobile and were soon home. Then we had to wait for the garage to phone to let us know how the car had fared in the MoT. But over an hour later they ran and unfortunately the news was not good. It failed on a lot of points: headlamps aim beam incorrect, windscreen wiper not operating, windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid, stop lamp not working, exhaust has minor leak, rear brake pipe corroded and several more. Having spent around £700 last year to get the car through it's MoT it would be crazy to spend more money on getting it through it's latest test. As it is only worth around £800-£1000 we would in effect throwing good money at it, which, unfortunately we don't have at the moment. We are also in the position that we can't raise a loan for a new car, due to what situation we were left in financially due to Sam's interference with our bank account around 5 years ago (mentioned in far greater detail in an earlier post on here.) So we now have a car which has around 10 day's life left in it, now sitting on our drive. But fortunately we are in a position that we don't need a car if we can manage as Carol's work is so close and we really only need the car to get to the supermarket once a week. We can manage without until our financial situation improves and we can always do our grocery shopping online as we have done before and get it delivered. We also have two bicycles as well and as for church, that is only a fairly short walk away. I get free bus usage so we can get half our fares for nothing so we can get around Milton Keynes and further fairly easily.

Little Brown Bird

The little brown bird is a regular visitor to our garden. It's been several times before, we've noticed. It seems to trust us, for whatever reason. Maybe the garden is a good source of food. As the neighbour's two cats are often hanging around somewhere as well as our two dogs, it is certainly putting it's life in  serious danger. When the dogs see the cats, they start off on a mad barking spree. One of the cats is very crafty. It knows well enough that the dogs can't reach it so it sits on either the shed roof or the fence and keeps peering into the lounge window to see what reaction it's having on the dogs. It is almost as if it's drawing them into a fight, but it's clear which side would win. I don't think Alfie would be able to cope with all the claws and teeth if it came to a one-to-one fight. Thinking about it, I think he'd probably run in the opposite direction if it really came to it. He's not the bravest of little dogs, even though he makes a lot of noise. This cat came very close to the window the other evening, sitting on the neighbour's fence and clearly staring into the room through the window. 

I think perhaps the little bird is either a blackbird or a thrush. It is probably part of a pair and they're in the process of nest-building, in preparation for a brood of chicks. The nest is perhaps built in a hedge or tree somewhere along the edge of the Redway which runs behind our house.

Time to get the car MoT'd

It's that time of year when we will have to get the car MoT'd. For those who don't know what this is, particularly those readers who don't live in the United Kingdom, this is an annual mechanical test required by law for every car over two or three years to ascertain it's road-worthiness. Such things as brakes, sub-frame, steering, lights, windscreen etc etc are tested and in order to re-licence the vehicle you need the document in order to get the vehicle taxed as well as insured. I will be phoning around to get quotes as the cost of the initial test can vary from garage to garage. I know that one thing will need to be repaired before they will issue an MoT certificate and that is the windscreen wipers as they haven't worked for a good while. Which can make things difficult if we drive anywhere and it rains. We had to spend around £700 to get the car through it's MoT last year so we are hoping that we don't have to spend out that sort of amount this year. Obviously, as a car gets older, and ours has to be well over 10 years old, it begins to deteriate so that it will need more work doing on it, such as the sub-frame and bodywork which rusts badly, made worse by the fact that during the winter months, when we have frost, ice and snow, the use of salt and grit on the road, put down by local councils to melt the ice on the road surfaces, has a detrimental effect on car parts, particularly those bits which are underneath. Also, speed-humps or 'Sleeping Policemen', used to control traffic speeds and particularly in and around our estate have a really bad effect on the tyres particularly and the suspension of vehicles. We have to go over these confounded things several times a day every time we use the car. One tyre on the rear of the car is always low on air pressure, presumably because of these speed bumps as well as poorly-maintained road surfaces in and around Milton Keynes. Also, the number or roundabouts in this area must have some sort of effect on car tyres and steering mechanism, putting a definite strain on the mechanics of most vehicles.

Spring-Like Weather

For the past couple of days we've been experiencing almost spring-like weather. Carol was on Half-Term Holiday last week. She had to make a doctor's appointment early last week. We didn't go to the surgery on the Monday because from experience we knew that it was likely to be busy, with a long queue outside (I was only the second person in the queue the week before at around 7.45 a.m. when I'd gone to make an appointment myself.) So we'd gone on the Tuesday. It turned out that she would have to have a blood test, so had to go back the next day, at around 9.20 for that. 

The weather was mixed. Some days it was bright and sunny, whilst others it rained. On the Thursday we went to the Heart of the Shires shopping village at Weedon, which is up the A5. We had gone to another a few months ago, on the major roundabout on the A5/A43, just beyond Towcester, called Bell Plantation Garden. We'd had a nice meal in what's called the Plantation Cafe. But when we'd arrived this time we discovered that there was major roadworks on the roundabout. It looked as if they were widening the road and making the roundabout a good deal wider, putting in several new lanes for traffic. We have shopped in the Aldi branch which is nearby in the past. So we had travelled on until we came to the shopping village at Weedon. We'd discovered these places quite by chance as we've been up and down the A5 as it's a good deal less stressful than using the nearby M1 which is only a short distance away. There is so much more to see as you drive along the A5. There are several quite pleasant garden centres and shopping villages and you pass through a few really interesting villages and towns along the way, one being Towcester. Weedon is at the crossing-place of the A45 which goes on towards Birmingham, Warwick and Leamington Spa and is the way we drive whenever we go to Kenilworth Castle. The east direction heads towards Northampton and eventually Bedford. There are some really interesting shops and outlets at the shopping village, selling a range of items such as housewares, antiques, clothes and gardening items. We had a coffee in the cafe and then drove home slowly. Not an entirely over-exciting outing, but considering we hadn't been out all week it was quite a pleasant little outing. We did have a browse in the antiques centre but decided that most of what they had on offer was really over-priced. Our knowledge of antiques has been acquired as a result of watching such television programmes as Bargain Hunt, Flog It and Antiques Roadshow. I had never heard of Lalique, Famille Rose, or many of the more famous makers until I'd watched these shows.

On Saturday we decided that the dogs needed a well-earned outing, and wanted to take them for a walk. As mentioned in earlier posts, it's quite a military operation as you have to be properly organised for these outings as Alfie, our Yorkshire terrier gets very wound up when he knows we're going out. Fortunately this time he didn't get quite so stressed out, but I had to put the cage into the back of the car without him seeing we doing it. It started out quite fine and sunny, but it began to cloud over as we drove up the A5 as we were going to Salcey Forest, somewhere we haven't visited in quite a while. It turned out that there was building work going at the carpark. It looks as if they are building a new visitor centre. The cafe which is there currently is only wooden, a sort of temporary construction. Also, it was extremely muddy as we walked along the paths, which didn't bother either dog, but when they jumped up on us we became extremely covered in mud. Not a real problem because our clothes could be washed easily in the washing machine later. But, again, it was a nice outing. No sooner had we got back home than the rain began so it was as well we went out when we did and had made the best of the day.

Nostalgia of Shopping -Part 3

Continuing from my last post, further along Bedford High Street was Hockliffe's bookshop. I've always had a real passion for books, so to spend time browsing in a good bookshop and selecting a book to read has always been, to me at any rate, part of the enjoyment or owning books. It was one of those shops that seemed to go on and on, further back, what seemed to me a long way, down a lot of steps and into different room and along passage-ways and up stairs. They had a record department upstairs, selling L.P.'s and singles. This was long before the introduction of cassettes and C.D.'s. There's something exciting about browsing for music in a shop. L.P's in particular because they always had good art-work on their covers. The size of a cassette box was so small that the artwork always looked cramped and pathetic. C.D.'s weren't much better. They may have been technically better, it was easier to find a track on a C.D., they contained more music and they didn't 'click' or 'crackle' like L.P.'s which you had to treat with care. I did have a Philips cassette player, one of the first portable models, but I never liked cassettes. It was difficult to find a track, as you had to keep on winding the tape back and forward. Even with some sort of numbered indicator on the more advanced machines, they were difficult and technically inferior. You could have Dolby noise reduction, special metal tape and so on but it never really improved the sound quality. Hockliffe's eventually became W.H. Smith, which in a way was a pity because when the 'big boys' take over the independent shops you just get bland shops, so that every high street throughout the country has exactly the same shops, the chains such as Smith's, Boot's, Marks and Spencer etc, and all selling exactly the same stock. When the Harper Centre opened in the late 1970's W.H. Smith moved into the new shopping centre. I'm not sure what became of the old Hockliffe's. I think it became a bank or building society branch. 

Almost opposite Hockliffe's/Smith's was (or still is, I'm not so sure, I haven't been along Bedford High Street in a good while) Golding's ironmongers. Another shop which goes back a long way and also has an upstairs department. Not only did they sell your usual range of things like kettles, pots and pans and the usual household paraphanalia, but at the very back was a department selling craft items such as Airfix model kits, balsa wood, glue, aeroplane kits and the like. I was always making models of some sort when I was a child and this was a sort of Aladdin's cave and really interesting. All the staff in Goldings were of a 'certain age,' all seemed at least 50 years old or older and some seemed to have been working there since they left school. You always got excellent service, the staff would go out of their way to help and this was another shop where they had chairs for the customer to sit on. Nothing was too much bother for their staff. You could buy things like nuts and bolts , nails, screws, hooks and so on individually, not in packets. If you wanted only one or just a few items, you could, not waste a packet of, say, a dozen, when you only wanted one item. This was an old fashioned shop which had old-fashioned values. They certainly knew how to look after their customers.

There was another grocers further along the High Street called International Stores. I think my mother shopped their occasionally, but it was difficult to park around there so perhaps she only went in there for the occasional item which she couldn't find elsewhere. This was the time when you went shopping at different shops, the greengrocers, baker's, chemist etc, unlike today where you drive out to a large supermarket on the outskirts of a town, a Tesco's, Morrison's, Sainsbury's etc etc and do all of your shopping in one place which as everything under one roof, along with such extras as opticians, pharmacy, baker, fishmonger, butcher, greengrocer's. May be convenient, but I expect a lot of the smaller businesses closed down because they couldn't compete on price and value, unfortunately.

As a child I used to go to several toy shops in Bedford. Alas, none of these are still in existence. One was in Midland Road, about where the junction of Alexandra Road is, called Hepplethtwaite's (I think that's the spelling, or near enough.) Another of those shops that seemed to stretch back miles and miles, or is it when you are a child you're a lot smaller than an adult, height-wise, so everything appears smaller and when you grow up, everything you see now is a completely different size because you're seeing it all from a different angle. Anyway, it was the sort of shop that you don't have many of nowadays, sadly, because the large warehouse-type companies have come along, such as Toys R Us and just put the smaller independent shops out of business because basically they can buy in larger quantities and then pass on the price cuts to the customer. This is the same with bookshops, unfortunately. There was another toyshop in Greyfriars, I think called Longhurst. I think it was part of Longhurst and Skinner's which was a large furniture shop which also had a toy department and presumably someone managed to keep this going, but in a much smaller shop. Both now long gone and the old Longhurst and Skinner's department store is now a pub called the Pilgrim's Progress. The last toy shop was in St John's Street, called Brightman's and this is where we bought both my brother James and Robert's bicycles. I think Robert's was red and James's was blue. They had them to ride to and from school. I don't know what happened to the red one, but I inherited the blue one, a Rudge I believe, which I had for many years until it was unfortunately stolen from a house I lived in in Tyne Crescent in the early 1990's or thereabouts. Anyway, Brightman's sold all manner of toys, not just bicycles but things like Meccano, which I had as a child. My eldest brothers had it and then it was passed down to me (probably one of the advantages of being a middle child.) and was often given Meccano for birthdays and Christmas and so built up quite an extensive collection. This shop, Brighton's had a connection with school, as one of the Brightman sons went to school with me when I was at Rushmoor. I have a recollection that after a game of football (not my favourite, as I have discussed in an earlier post.) I must have gone home with some of his kit or something, because we had to have everything marked with name tapes. The shop and as far as I know, the business of Brighton's disappeared some years ago. It was demolished when a new one-way traffic system was introduced in the town and they put a sort of link road in almost exactly where the shop stood in St John's Street.

The large out-of-town supermarkets didn't reach Bedford until the 1990's or thereabouts. A Tesco was built on what had formerly been the show ground for the Bedford agricultural show which sadly disappeared in the 1970's. (I believe it merged with other county shows and became the East of England Show and moved to a permanent site at Alwalton near Peterborough.) To gain planning permission the supermarket company put forward the proposal that a leisure pool would be built alongside the supermarket on the same site. This became the Oasis, and is quite a  distinctive building which is in the shape of a pyramid. I believe that originally Asda was going to open on the site but for some reason Tesco took over the site. Another Tesco was built and opened on land on the outskirts of the town at Goldington. Sainsbury had a central Bedford store up until the late 1990's. It wasn't very large, but it closed and they eventually opened a new store at the corner of Shakespeare Road and Clapham Road. My mother wouldn't have been around to see either as she sadly died in 1981. I don't know how she would have coped with shopping in a large out-of-town supermarket. She shopped at some point at a shop off Cardington Road called P and A, a sort of discount supermarket which was laid out with all the grocery items left in their boxes and not neatly as you would have in a more modern supermarket. I don't know what happened to them. I think they closed down at some point but may have run a wholesale outlet somewhere in the town.  I think people did shop at a variety of outlets, going from one to the other, such as the butcher, greengrocer, baker etc etc and not in a large outlet as we have today.

Our school uniforms could only be bought from one outlet in the town. That outlet was Braggins. Not in the High Street, but in Harper Street. My eldest brothers went to Bedford School, and myself to Rushmoor School. Braggins was yet another very old fashioned store, built over many small departments much like the bookshops and other shops I've mentioned. My mother had a cash account there and once a year we'd go in to get our school gear replaced. Another company that seemed to pride itself on it's customer care. You were treated with respect, allowed to sit down whilst shopping (at least the ladies were.). They had one of those systems whereby once you're purchased something, all the paperwork was put in a sort of sealed tube and it was closed up and then disappeared, presumably to the pay desk somewhere within the store and a few minutes later your invoice and change came back in the tube. I imagine it was operated by compressed air or something, but it always intrigued me. Not like today's shopping where it's all done with barcodes on every product and the till operator just scans the items and doesn't even have to work out the change or else you present your credit or debit card and enter your P.I.N. and the transaction is made. The department we went to was called Ovr Boys, or at least that was what the sign said outside in the street. It was for all types of children's school uniforms, every item including socks, shirts, shoes, blazers and trousers. At Rushmoor (no doubt the same at Bedford School and all the other private and Harper Trust Schools throughout the town.) you were expected to have a summer uniform as well as a winter one. Aertex shirts for summer and a grey shirt and tie in winter, a raincoat as well as a cap. The cap was a vital part of the ensemble. Bedford School had a blue one with a crest on a sort of embroidered design, no doubt the school crest with a motto, don't as me what it was. Rushmoor's cap was dark, royal blue, with a red top section, with an embroidered 'R' on the front. It had a peak which meant when you took it off you could fold the peak inside. You were expected to wear it at all times when in uniform outside the school and could be sent for detention if you didn't wear it or were seen out not wearing it.  I can't remember exactly what he rest of the uniform comprised of, but junior boys were short grey trousers and then as you progressed through the school you wore long grey trousers. Very scratchy on the legs, from what I remember. Horrible.

I believe my elder brothers went to school with the Braggins brothers. They must have sold the business at some point or other as it became Universal Stores in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and then it was sold on again and became Beale's. It changed considerably over the years and had a very good stationary department as well as records, books and CD's. They built a new section which faced onto Harper Square which was originally Bedford Modern School, the mock Gothic-style building was saved from demolition in the 1970's when the school moved to brand new premises in the 1970's, to a site in Manton Lane. A hill-side which at one time had been where the games field for Rushmoor School was, up a steep track which was invariably muddy and unpleasant and usually in rain, snow or other appalling conditions. You can see why I couldn't stand games and got put off all sorts of sport, having to run around in howling gales on the top of a very open hill in games kit, getting cold and miserable and generally not enjoying things. Above the new extension of Beales the local council built the brand new Central Library.

One more store which I haven't mentioned is E.P. Rose. In the High Street and you couldn't possibly miss it as it was an imposing building on several floors and the entrance from Silver Street had a sort of tower, made of white stone or brick. It became Debenhams, probably in the 1970's-80's. My mother had an account there and I assume she bought most of her clothes there. It intrigued me as a child as it had a lift. I think it might possibly have been the only store in Bedford with a lift, but it fascinated me that you could get in this 'box' with a door on the front and then we whisked up, or down, and move fast. Possibly because it made me think of the Tardis in 'Doctor Who' which was one of my favourite television shows and which began in 1963 and I must have seen the first ever episode. Sorry to say, but the newly-revived version hasn't got the same sort of magic as the original, even if they can use the latest C.G.I. graphics and a far bigger budget.

Roses had a Father Christmas grotto at Christmas, no doubt in the toy department. Sadly, Debenham's don't have a toy department any more. I think I saw through the fakery of Father Christmas because another store also had it's own Father Christmas and I worked out that he couldn't possibly be in two places at once. They did make quite an effort over the grotto but what spoilt it for me was that he wore Wellington boots covered in a layer of white paint and I saw through the whole thing because i noticed that the paint was peeling off and you could see clearly that they were a common-or-garden pair of Wellies. My cousin Rosemary Kendal had her belief in Father Christmas completely ruined when she was taken with us to visit Father Christmas one day and I pointed out the flaking Wellies! I remember another occasion when I went with mum shopping, and going into Roses, no doubt to buy clothes for herself. She went to the department and wanted to pay for something and she found a group of staff gossiping and was somewhat annoyed that they weren't paying attention. Well, it wasn't the time or place for them to be gossiping, and certainly not on the shop floor or in front of customers, and an account customer at that.
I do remember Taylor Brawn and Flood, a chemist's which had several branches around Bedford. As a child I used to call it 'Taylor, Brawn and Fluid.' I know, sad really, but you know how you pronounce things as a child. It no longer exists as a company, as far as I know. Probably got merged in with another company long ago or just went bust. They had a shop part-way down the High Street in Bedford, I think on the corner of Mill Street. I suppose my mother shopped there. All I remember is that they had some really large bottles in their window, filled I presume with different coloured liquids, probably red, green, blue etc. Sort of bulbous at the bottom and narrowing into a thin neck. I think I've seen something like them on Bargain Hunt or Flog It on television, but these particular bottles intrigued me as they were so large and very striking, taking up a large part of the window display. I think they also had a branch in St Peter's Street, at the traffic lights at St Cuthbert's Street. No doubt I was attracted to the huge bottles in the window there when I was in my parent's car and waiting at the traffic lights.

On the way to school we used to go over the River Ouse along Prebend Street and past an antique shop called, I think, Sherwood's. I've never been inside, but it always appeared to always have the same things in the windows for years and years. As I haven't been to Bedord for a few years and certainly not been along Prebend Street, I can't say whether it's still there, but I don't think I ever saw anyone come out or go into this shop. As the stock never appeared to change over a great many years I can't see how on earth the owner made a living from it. The stock was hidden behind a sort of pull-down shutter or mesh sort of screen, which I presume was to discourage burglary, but all I could ever remember seeing as we drove past was a large brass bed-warmer thing, hanging in the window and the rest of the stock looked very dusty and not very inviting.

Nostalgia of Shopping- Part 2

The main shop for our family was done in Bedford. Before supermarkets grocery shops were run on old-fashioned lines, whereby there would be a shopkeeper standing behind a counter and you would select your shopping with him taking items off a shelf. Items such as cheese were weighed, having been sliced off large blocks. I remember being able to taste before you buy, although some supermarkets will allow you to do this now, but cheese and other items of food weren't wrapped as they are today in vacuum packs, nor was meat in those polystyrene trays you see on supermarket shelves with cling film over them. Even bacon would be sliced on a machine and then wrapped separately, as would chops and even chicken portions. You could select the meat straight from the refrigerator. Dick Wood (who I mentioned in the earlier post) made the most delicious sausages. He would often bring us a packet when he came for tea. A good deal tastier than the packets of sausages you get today, and no doubt containing a good deal more meat, too. 

My mother did the grocery shopping, from what I remember, in a shop called Fred West (please, not to be confused with the murderer!) which was in St Cuthbert's Street, just off St Peter's Street in Bedford. I think she would take a list of what she required and the shop would make the order up and put it all in cardboard boxes, and then we would go in and collect the order in the car. I presume they had a carpark at the rear, but to be honest I don't remember. West's was one of those old fashioned grocers where they had tins of such things as broken biscuits along the front of the counter as well as chairs on for the customers to sit. Why, I used to think, would people want to buy broken biscuits, particularly? Why not buy whole biscuits? This was a time when you could buy your food in measured quantities, as I've already mentioned about cheese. I imagine you could buy biscuits in packets, but there must have been something great about being able to select those biscuits and have them measured out by the shop keeper. 

Living on a farm we were never short of vegetables. My father grew potatoes and Brussel sprouts on the farm. Once they were picked, they were bagged up and a lorry came and took them off to London, to Covent Garden. The company was called Bennet and Hawes. They still exist. I have just Googled them. They are based in Spitalfield's in London. In return for taking our produce we got fruit in exchange, such things as boxes of oranges and grapefruit as well as melons, so we could have orange or grapefruit for breakfast. I don't think I particularly liked them as a child but I grew to quite enjoy them as I got older, but having had a heart attack I'm not supposed to eat them or drink the juice as it's supposed to interfere with the medication I'm taking, but that's another matter. My father always seemed to eat a grapefruit for breakfast himself.

The garden at Malting Farm produced a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. We had asparagus and the bed in the garden always produced a fine crop. Also, we had strawberries and raspberries and there was an orchard which produced both apples and pears, although the last time I visited when my brother Robert lived there, the garden had been dug up, the apple trees cut down and replaced by pens for sheep and cattle. Sad in a way, but probably more sensible when you're running a farm on profitable lines. Also, salad vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes (grown in a greenhouse.) as well as carrots and other root vegetables. So, you see, we really had no need to buy most of our vegetables. Our milk was produced on the farm. It used to come straight from the cow, a couple kept specially for that purpose. I don't expect you'd be allowed to drink 'raw', un pasteurised milk now, if I know anything about E.U. agricultural policy.  It never did any of any harm, and to be honest, it definitely tastes far better than what we have to drink today. Although the cows were tested for whatever diseases they might have (which they didn't, naturally enough.) As a result of this milk we always had a supply of cream which was occasionally made into butter.

My grandmother had lived at Mill Farm in Cardington. When my grandfather died my uncle Michael took over the management of the farm and my grandmother moved to a house which at the time, (which would have been the early 1960's.) just happened to be the first house going into Bedford along Cardington Road. She used to shop at a grocer's along London Road, called Bass's, another old fashioned grocers which sold all the usual products. Almost directly opposite was a newsagents, Desmond's. The daughter of the family was a keen rider and my brother Sandy and Robert used to bump into them at gymkhanas and horse shows at various venues in and around Bedfordshire and the neighbouring countys. Further along London Road, towards Bedford town centre, there was another shop, Elsie Currah's, which stocked knitting wool, cotton for sewing and all the haberdashery requirements necessary for sewing, knitting, crochet etc etc. My mother was a very keen knitter and owned an electric sewing machine as well as a knitting machine (both Singer machines I remember.) She made a lot of her own clothes as well as knitting us the most amazing sweaters. My father detested the knitting machine, particularly as the thing was set up in the dining room at Malting Farm, which was where we sat to watch television, and he hated the sound it made. I suppose it was noisy, but as I say, she managed to create some really amazing knitwear of the machine. Elsie Currah's was where she bought most of her knitting wool.

Another grocer's was in the centre of Bedford, in the High Street. This was Dudeney and Johnston's.  (Now Lloyd's Bank.) They had several smaller shops dotted around the outer suburbs of Bedford, one being opposite where I went to school in Kimbolton Road, opposite Walmsley House, at one time a Co-Op but I think it's now a Budgen's. Dudley and Johnston's was quite an 'up-market' grocers, perhaps in the same mould as Waitrose today. They stocked quite a good range of products. Upstairs there was a restaurant and a large dance hall/function room where wedding receptions and dances were held. As a child we seemed to go to a lot of birthday parties for school friends and I went to several birthday parties in there. The shop also had a bakery although I can't remember my mother buying anything in there. I have a suspicion that Dudeney and Johnson was perhaps the first self-service supermarket to open in Bedford, but it may well have been Safeway in Greyfriars which I imagine was opened when that area was redeveloped along with the bus station in the late 1950's or early 1960's. It used to intrigue me as a child because they had one of the first automatic doors, something that we take for granted today. You stood on the mat or something which made the doors open, but today no doubt done with the aid of motion sensors or something similar.

Nostalgia of Shopping- Part 1

Before the advent of out-of-town supermarkets and the internet, shopping was an entirely different kettle of fish. Living in a village a good four to five miles from the nearest town, if you needed anything in an emergency, such as sugar or a loaf of bread you could always rely on the village shop, although from what I remember as a child the only shop in Cardington was on the green and run by an elderly couple called  the Misses Stonebridge. I don't think either was married, but I may be wrong. I don't think my mother would have done much of her shopping in there. All I remember is the shop was run from one of the cottages on the Green in the village. If I went to run an errand for her, such as picking up something like butter or flour for baking, I would get 2d to spend in the shop on sweets. You could actually get quite a lot for that in those days (pre-decimal, which came in in 1971.) Usually I would buy chews or gob-stoppers or even those lovely liquerice chews, sherbet fountains made by Bassett's or some other company. I'm not sure you can still buy them. Most likely not.

We had meat delivered, in a van, from Wood's butchers. Dick Woods, who owned ran the shop which was in Harrowden Road which went into the centre of Bedford. He was a friend of my father's. They kept and ran greyhounds and Dick Woods would occasionally arrive at some time during the day at the farm, usually for morning coffee or tea-time. He was a large, rotund man, short, but he couldn't half talk the leg off a donkey, as they say. A real old hypochondriac. Always going on about some illness or other he had. He had a wife, but I don't recall ever meeting the woman. I think perhaps once, when we went to the garage in the next village, Cople, where we got our cars repaired. Burr's garage I think. Anyway, Dick Woods turned up in his car (perhaps to get it fixed, I don't know.) and he got out and chatted with my Dad, but his wife didn't get out of their car, just sat inside. That as far as I recall is the only time I ever saw her. It was a bit like in "Dad's Army" where Captain Mainwairing, who ran the platoon, would mention his wife, but she never actually appeared. She was always 'off-stage.' The action would be written that she was always in the kitchen, was annoyed with Mainwairing over something trifling. I think she 'appeared' in one episode when she and her husband were supposed to be sleeping in a bunk. He had the bottom bunk whilst she had the upper one. All you actually saw of her was this great bulge in the mattress underneath, her actually face or the rest of her body didn't appear.

I think bread was delivered by a baker called Fitch. I'm not sure where he came from.  The bakers may or may not have been in a near-by village, Willington. The bread was always unsliced and tasted a good deal better than sliced, packet bread. My mum also went up to what was called The Boundary, which was (probably still is.) a parade of shops in Harrowden Road on the way into Bedford. There was a baker's there for a good selection of not just bread but cakes. My favourite were I believe called Viennese Whirls and came in a little paper tray a bit like cupcakes and had a little bob of bright red jam-likesubstance on top, probably flavoured with strawberry or raspberry.  If we didn't have those my mother would buy doughnuts. I don't think we had a lot of bought cakes as my mum usually made a very wide range of cakes for tea, a speciality being shortbread, made to a very trustworthy recipe. My father always had brown bread, and so we had a loaf of Hovis for him. Also in the parade of shops was a greengrocers and a chemists, Peter Micklejohn. I think there might also have been a butchers, but as we went to Wood's for meat (bout a quarter of a mile further along the road towards Bedford.) I don't think we ever bought meat in there.

Doctor's Appointment

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon. It had been originally booked to be at 4.40, but during yesterday morning Dr Haye range me to ask me if I could come to an earlier appointment, at 3.50, as he had a free appointment so I went earlier. Having checked in on the computer I saw that the system was still showing the earlier appointment and as it was rapidly approaching the time of  newly arranged appointment I went back to the receptionist's desk and asked the receptionist to check that I was booked in on the system. It seemed that I was. I think she sent a message to Dr Haye to say that I had arrived. As it happened I didn't actually get called into his surgery until 4.10-15. He has reviewed my repeat prescription medication and most are fine but when I mentioned the muscle pain in my stomach, arms and legs which seems to have got worse over the past couple of weeks he suggested that it might be caused by the Pravastatin, so he suggested I stop taking it for a couple of weeks to see if it stops the muscle cramps/pain. I don't expect it will ease off very quickly as I have been taking Pravastatin for several years now. I just hope it does and the other side-effects wear off, such as preventing me getting to sleep at night. He gave me a couple of prescriptions which I then took to the pharmacy which is along from the surgery and had them made up and then I drove home.

Parcel Arrives

The elusive parcel arrived from Very. At around 6.30. We were in the middle of watching 'Broadchurch' on catch-up. The parcel remained unopened for most of the running time of the programme, but then Carol couldn't resist for long and insisted on opening and taking out the contents. We then had to assemble the Vax steam cleaner, 'Home Master', and try it out which meant we didn't concentrate hard on the programme which is a pity. We had to try out the machine and cleaned some of the carpet in the lounge and experimented on cleaning the sofa. Seemed quite effective. Good as it uses steam and no chemicals. I have since been cleaning the floor in the kitchen and I'm shocked at how much dirt is coming off. We have been mopping the floor regularly and it would appear that most of the dirt is only going to be removed with the steam machine, so very impressed by it's efficiency.

Having taken Carol to work I later went to Ashfield Medical Centre in Beanhill and queued up  in order to get a doctor's appointment (although I was the second person in the queue, so I'm glad I went when I did. No rain, snow or generally unpleasant conditions to stand outside at 7.45 a.m. on a February morning.) I managed to get an appointment with Doctor Haye at 4.40 this afternoon. I have a longer appointment as I have several things to mention, one of them being my review of my medications as I had a note on my package of meds from Sainsbury's pharmacy when I collected it last week, informing me that I needed to see my doctor for a review before I could have my next repeat prescription, hence the appointment today.

Still Waiting for the Elusive Parcel

Well, the parcel we were expecting to arrive from Very didn't arrive yesterday. It was an entirely wasted day as far as I was concerned because I couldn't leave the house, which was somewhat annoying. It is supposed to be delivered by Yodel, and, according to their website, where you can track your parcel by inputting your parcel's number, it must have been put on the wrong van at some stage and went back to the company's depot near Manchester, but, having looked at the site this morning, it is currently in Northampton, so if all goes according to plan we should have our Vax steam cleaner some time today which means I can start trying it out and cleaning the house as arranged earlier. I was hoping, had it arrived yesterday, I could have got a doctor's appointment today because I need to have a review of my medication because when I picked up my last repeat prescription from Sainsbury's pharmacy last week there was a note attached to the package telling me that my doctor needed to see me regarding my review. I don't see that there is a problem but, being on   medication which is on repeat prescription you have to have it reviewed around every six months.

It's foggy out this morning. It doesn't look particularly thick, but foggy nonetheless. It was quite warm and sunny yesterday but by the evening the temperature had dropped, meaning we had to have the central heating on. I don't think we should complain as we are only just into February.

It's Sunny and Bright

The weather has warmed up considerably. As I sit here at 2.05 p.m. on Monday 9th of February the sun is shining. It's certainly a good deal warmer than it has been for the past couple of weeks. I'm sitting here waiting for a parcel to arrive. We've ordered a steam cleaner from Very and I'm not sure exactly when it's supposed to be here but I've been informed via email that it will come through a delivery company called Yodel some time today but not exactly when, so it's more than likely to arrive at 9 o'clock or some unlikely hour when we're tucked up in bed. It means that I can't go out of the house because I imagine the moment I do the parcel will arrive and then a card will be stuck through the letter-box informing me that our parcel couldn't be delivered and the parcel has returned to their depot in some far-flung place which means we would have to drive there to get the parcel.

On Friday I did another of the exercises in the creative writing book I mentioned in an earlier post. You had to find somewhere outside an write a description of the view, be it a street, house etc. I went to the cafe in Sainsbury's and sat near the window and wrote a description of the view outside. Actually harder than I imagined but there seemed nowhere else I could think of that wasn't outside in the cold, although I had considered going down to the canal and sitting and describing the scene there. Not a total success but least I've done the exercise. I have learned from past experience that in some ways it's best to leave a piece of writing for a day or two, or even longer, before returning to it to re-read and edit as it gives you time to consider it.

Close Encounters of the Feline Kind

It was around 5.30 this morning that I went downstairs as I usually do to make our cups of tea when Alfie followed me. He wanted to be let out into the garden so went to the sliding patio door which I opened for him. I have a small L.E.D. torch which I keep on the table for this very purpose so that when it's dark I can see the dogs in the garden as there is still the possibility of either of them disappearing through  the gaps in what purports to be a fence. As Alfie ran towards the fence to the left I saw the black-and-white form of our neighbour's cat. Alfie ran towards the still form of the cat, somewhat unsure exactly what it was. I think perhaps he was still partially asleep, but then he realised what it was and began to bark aggressively, at which the prone form of the cat began to spring into life and bounded across the garden and over the fence, being angrily chased by the still-barking Alfie. I don't think he's been so close to either of the two cats. They have a habit of coming into the garden and sitting on the roof of the shed and peering into the window, with a look as if to say 'we know you can't get his if we sit here. Come and get us, if you dare!' Which only has the effect of setting both dogs off on a barking frenzy. You only have to say 'pussycat!' to Alfie and he's fully aware of what you're saying, very much in the same way that if you pick up either of the dog's leads he starts on his loud barking and getting quite aggressive as he knows we're about to go for a walk. Strange how he becomes a sort of Jekyll and Hyde type-character, his personality changing from quite a placid little dog into a raving little nutcase!

It was snowing quite heavily earlier this morning. Carol wanted to go to Tesco in Oldbrook as she wanted to buy a sandwich for her lunch as the canteen at the Academy seems incapable of providing decent snacks for staff or at least have any left when she gets there to buy something at lunch time.  It had slowed down considerably by the time we had driven into the Academy carpark for me to drop her off. Most of the snow from the other day seems to have thawed but there is some left behind. The car had a slight dusting when we first went out to drive away from the house.

600th Post! . . .And A Fall of Snow

Here we are, this is the 600th post I've written on this blog!

What marks this somewhat historic and some might even go as far as saying- awesome? Well, we woke this morning to find that there was a considerable fall of snow. Carol wasn't entirely sure that the Academy was going to be open so we went of the Milton Keynes council website and by around 7.15 there was a post which said that the place wasn't going to be open for the children until 9.30 and people who arrived by car weren't to use the main carpark as it was still not clear of snow and were to use the Woughton Leisure Centre carpark behind the Academy. I spent some time clearing snow off our car which had been on the drive all night. Quite a thick covering on the roof and the windscreen. But as we weren't driving over to the Academy it was somewhat unnecessary as it turned out. We walked over at around 7.30 and found the Redway was quite thick with snow and walked along with one of Carol's work colleagues. There is a good chance that if there is a further heavy fall of snow as the weather forecast suggests for the remainder of the day the Academy with be shut early. I suppose there is a safety issue with people slipping over and generally keeping people safe although I remember when I was at school we seemed to go in to school regardless of whether it was snowing or not.