First paragraph made me laugh Frank. Lack of self confidence started to wane when I left school. Did go to a tech but I always knew how many were in the class as I always came 35 out of 36! Went to work, loved what I got into and all I wanted to do was learn. Still doing same now. What I have found as I've got older is that I get silly hangups, like being nervous to drive. Just one of many.
We have no High Street left as such. You can't buy anything there, unless you visit a Charity shop. A lot has been due to the excessive rents being asked. A pet shop, which had been there ever since I could remember, had it's rent doubled over night. Proprietor tried to negotiate but got nowhere and that's what happened to practically every shop. We now have every charity shop imaginable, 9 hairdressers, usual banks, etc, McDonalds, KFC, 4 cafes and, the latest, pawn brokers and shops to sell your old gold/silver. Forgot, Poundland.
That's sad Tina - I used to live in Bexley before I got married; Bexley village was nice, and they had a restaurant in the Old Mill; Bexleyheath had shops providing everything you might need and I remember the first supermarket opening in Blackfen.
I now live in Marlow-on-Thames, a nice market town with some decent shops, but of course, a sprinkling of coffee bars and hairdressers. McDonalds have been desperate to get a foothold for years, but the Town Council don't want them, and apart from the kids, nor does anyone else!
Actually cheeky Verdun it's a 99p shop, so even better than Poundland. You know what they say about the pennies.
Pentillie, the minute I put in my postcode, up pops Bexley, but that's not where I live. Not far away though. Bexley Village is still sort of thriving and, of course, The Old Mill is still there but there's no McDonalds either! I think they would find it difficult to obtain suitably large enough premises it being such a small oldy worldy place. Would need several shops to be empty to make it viable. Mind you, there was a very suspect book shop which opened there some years back, blacked out windows, ring the bell type, right near the library. Not sure if it's still there. Message to moi. Check that out. Bexleyheath is having yet another revamp, at considerable cost to the Council Tax payer and with Bluewater just down the road, total waste of money.
Hope you manage to keep McD at bay. In the evening, there is quite a large police presence in the Town and I certainly wouldn't venture there. Sign of the times, I'm sad to say.
I used to live on the out skirts of Dublin if you wanted to go to town it was a 3/4hr bus ride car parking was up to £2 an hr or part there off and then they opened Blanchardstown shopping center (free all day parking) it was huge it has car space for up to 5000 and every weekend it would take nearly an hour of a drive to get from my house to main city road and it was only 2 miles long it seemed that every person from the rest of the country would descend on this part of Dublin one of the reasons I moved to the country , where I am living now is a small village with a local chemist a butchers 3 pubs and a chipper/pizza and chinese takeout ,pop 2500
Started this on another thread and realised this is the correct one.
Comments were made about allotted car parking spaces, ie, Mum's with babies, etc. These were, of course, needed, when these special baby car seats came into being. Need to be able to open the door wide enough to get seat with baby out. However, do they really need to be so close to the doors of the supermarket? Why is these days that everything is centred round parents with young kids?
'In the olden days' we Mums never took kids with us to shop. I would look after friend's kids and she would look after mine. Happy situation, kids were happy, mums were happy and other shoppers happy. Why does a whole family need to do supermarket shopping? Why is the shopping precinct full of families over the weekend or Bank Holidays. Kids a pain in the neck, parents shouting - or is this just where I live?
I sound like an old grouch but I'm very fed up with the way Senior Citizens are knocked all the time and everything now seems to be centred around how to improve the life of people with young families. We had to do it on our own so why can't they.
I'm strong. I can take your criticism. Feel free
Derek, great to know that you have got out of the ratrace.
If councils want to revive town centres they'll have to reduce rent and rates and provide free parking. Even then most shops will not survive unless they also sell online. That's why it is not a simple choie between online shopping and using the local shops. Supermarkets are cheaper (some of the time, anyway) and are a quick one-stop destination for busy working women. As Frank says, change is part of life and usually not reversible. We'll see how rising unemployment and the consequent need to be self-employed affects things.
Our local town centre is in serious decline and is now a place of pound shops, charity shops, banks, building societies , pubs and cafes. It is dirty and shabby and only the poor, sick and long-term unemployed hang around there for long. Just a mile from my house, there's a McArthur Glen outlet which is attractive and has quality shops. There are also two other out of town shopping areas. But at weekends the town centre fills up with youngsters drinking and some taking drugs. There have been three fairly recent murders and quite a lot of suicides among youngsters. It is a jungle out there, as the song says. Strikes me that the best thing would be for it to revert to being a residential area safe and decent for people to live in. I stayed in Jerusalem a couple of years ago on Jewish Independence Day, in an Arab area, and it felt quite a lot safer than our town centre on a Friday night.
There is no case whatsoever for supermarkets to allocate the nearest carpark spaces to the fit mums and dads with children If they need more space to open the doors then go to the far reaches of the carpark which fill up last. Moreover they are young enough to walk the extra distance, and which isn't that far anyway. The irrefutable logic of carpark layout has to be based on the ability to walk from car to shop i.e. disabled spaces nearest, OAP spaces next, then the rest, furthest away.
TT you are absolutely correct about how young families are mollycoddled these days. We can all remember how our own parents coped brilliantly in the 1940's, 1950's etc without ant preferential treatment and none of the labour saving devices.
Seems to me that some form of culture change is overdue.
Culture change is happening fast, WW. That's the trouble! It can't be reversed, either, though it can move forwards to a better balance betwen the older values and the new. We have a culture of 'doing what is right for you' and also a culture of entitlement. I believe in social equality and I am a lifetime labour voter, but I regret to say that this culture is the result of the welfare state. Hard work and self-reliance are now foreign to a proportion of our population, who feel that life should be easy.
Posts
First paragraph made me laugh Frank.
Lack of self confidence started to wane when I left school. Did go to a tech but I always knew how many were in the class as I always came 35 out of 36! Went to work, loved what I got into and all I wanted to do was learn. Still doing same now. What I have found as I've got older is that I get silly hangups, like being nervous to drive. Just one of many.
We have no High Street left as such. You can't buy anything there, unless you visit a Charity shop. A lot has been due to the excessive rents being asked. A pet shop, which had been there ever since I could remember, had it's rent doubled over night. Proprietor tried to negotiate but got nowhere and that's what happened to practically every shop. We now have every charity shop imaginable, 9 hairdressers, usual banks, etc, McDonalds, KFC, 4 cafes and, the latest, pawn brokers and shops to sell your old gold/silver. Forgot, Poundland.
I now live in Marlow-on-Thames, a nice market town with some decent shops, but of course, a sprinkling of coffee bars and hairdressers. McDonalds have been desperate to get a foothold for years, but the Town Council don't want them, and apart from the kids, nor does anyone else!
Pentillie, the minute I put in my postcode, up pops Bexley, but that's not where I live. Not far away though. Bexley Village is still sort of thriving and, of course, The Old Mill is still there but there's no McDonalds either! I think they would find it difficult to obtain suitably large enough premises it being such a small oldy worldy place. Would need several shops to be empty to make it viable. Mind you, there was a very suspect book shop which opened there some years back, blacked out windows, ring the bell type, right near the library. Not sure if it's still there. Message to moi. Check that out. Bexleyheath is having yet another revamp, at considerable cost to the Council Tax payer and with Bluewater just down the road, total waste of money.
Hope you manage to keep McD at bay. In the evening, there is quite a large police presence in the Town and I certainly wouldn't venture there. Sign of the times, I'm sad to say.
Hope that your town manages to stay the same.
I used to live on the out skirts of Dublin if you wanted to go to town it was a 3/4hr bus ride car parking was up to £2 an hr or part there off and then they opened Blanchardstown shopping center (free all day parking) it was huge it has car space for up to 5000 and every weekend it would take nearly an hour of a drive to get from my house to main city road and it was only 2 miles long it seemed that every person from the rest of the country would descend on this part of Dublin one of the reasons I moved to the country , where I am living now is a small village with a local chemist a butchers 3 pubs and a chipper/pizza and chinese takeout ,pop 2500
Derek
Started this on another thread and realised this is the correct one.
Comments were made about allotted car parking spaces, ie, Mum's with babies, etc. These were, of course, needed, when these special baby car seats came into being. Need to be able to open the door wide enough to get seat with baby out. However, do they really need to be so close to the doors of the supermarket? Why is these days that everything is centred round parents with young kids?
'In the olden days' we Mums never took kids with us to shop. I would look after friend's kids and she would look after mine. Happy situation, kids were happy, mums were happy and other shoppers happy. Why does a whole family need to do supermarket shopping? Why is the shopping precinct full of families over the weekend or Bank Holidays. Kids a pain in the neck, parents shouting - or is this just where I live?
I sound like an old grouch but I'm very fed up with the way Senior Citizens are knocked all the time and everything now seems to be centred around how to improve the life of people with young families. We had to do it on our own so why can't they.
I'm strong. I can take your criticism. Feel free
Derek, great to know that you have got out of the ratrace.
If councils want to revive town centres they'll have to reduce rent and rates and provide free parking. Even then most shops will not survive unless they also sell online. That's why it is not a simple choie between online shopping and using the local shops. Supermarkets are cheaper (some of the time, anyway) and are a quick one-stop destination for busy working women. As Frank says, change is part of life and usually not reversible. We'll see how rising unemployment and the consequent need to be self-employed affects things.
Our local town centre is in serious decline and is now a place of pound shops, charity shops, banks, building societies , pubs and cafes. It is dirty and shabby and only the poor, sick and long-term unemployed hang around there for long. Just a mile from my house, there's a McArthur Glen outlet which is attractive and has quality shops. There are also two other out of town shopping areas. But at weekends the town centre fills up with youngsters drinking and some taking drugs. There have been three fairly recent murders and quite a lot of suicides among youngsters. It is a jungle out there, as the song says. Strikes me that the best thing would be for it to revert to being a residential area safe and decent for people to live in. I stayed in Jerusalem a couple of years ago on Jewish Independence Day, in an Arab area, and it felt quite a lot safer than our town centre on a Friday night.
There is no case whatsoever for supermarkets to allocate the nearest carpark spaces to the fit mums and dads with children If they need more space to open the doors then go to the far reaches of the carpark which fill up last. Moreover they are young enough to walk the extra distance, and which isn't that far anyway. The irrefutable logic of carpark layout has to be based on the ability to walk from car to shop i.e. disabled spaces nearest, OAP spaces next, then the rest, furthest away.
TT you are absolutely correct about how young families are mollycoddled these days. We can all remember how our own parents coped brilliantly in the 1940's, 1950's etc without ant preferential treatment and none of the labour saving devices.
Seems to me that some form of culture change is overdue.
Culture change is happening fast, WW. That's the trouble! It can't be reversed, either, though it can move forwards to a better balance betwen the older values and the new. We have a culture of 'doing what is right for you' and also a culture of entitlement. I believe in social equality and I am a lifetime labour voter, but I regret to say that this culture is the result of the welfare state. Hard work and self-reliance are now foreign to a proportion of our population, who feel that life should be easy.