The evening before yesterday, I started to make some preliminary preparations for my forthcoming trip up to Yorkshire at the weekend, to which I am looking forward. I had already purchased the relevant train tickets so I ensured that I had the QR codes on my phone and also in a little wallet as a backup. I also had my hotel booking copied into my ‘travel’ file and just as I had completed these tasks, I got a text from a niece indicating what the arrangements would be for the weekend. The last time when Meg was sufficiently fit to travel, we found a delightful little Italian cafe in Harrogate which we frequented on our way to the station. My niece and I arranged to meet for a coffee somewhere and although I had forgotten the name of the coffee shop, an internet search jogged my memory and it was just on the same street as the opticians she was attending on Saturday morning so nothing could be more convenient. I need some time on Saturday morning to buy a suitable present for my sister but I have some things in mind and Harrogate can be relied upon to be stuffed full of shops where I can buy something suitable. I still need to circulate the other members of the family, though, so that I can touch base with them during my brief visit as well. The financial news this morning has brought a warning that a well-known addition to out High Street, Poundland, may well go under if it does not receive a financial restructuring within the next few days. Poundland seems to have taken the place of the old Woolworths in providing a place on the High Street here you can just pop into buy a low cost item and indeed, here in Bromsgrove, I believe that Poundland occupied the premises vacated by Woolworths but that was slightly before I moved here. I am always reminded of the fact that almost everything in Poundland is plastics-based (anything metallic apart from a few Chinese tools could not be sold at such a low price) and is a sign of how dependent we are upon an oil-based economy. In the past I used to visit Poundland for the odd item but I have found recently that it never seems to stock anything that I really want or need so it is quite easy to pass it by. The High Street in Bromsgrove is replete with charity shops (at least seven at the last count) and coffee shops and precious little else but, as such, is probably typical of many main shopping streets in UK towns. However, a huge new building with an interesting semi-circular frontage is being erected in the centre of town – although opinion amongst my friends seems to be divided about it, I think in appearance that it will look distinctive. This, too, is promising a coffee area but I doubt it can be at all competitive with the multiplicity of coffee shops in the area. For example, when I visit Wetherspoons twice a week, I spent £2.39 on an egg-and-bacon breakfast muffin which also gives me an endless supply of coffee/hot chocolate thrown I as part of the price, all of which has eased the transition from the now closed Waitrose cafe in which my friends and I used to meet. I anticipate that today is the day when our domestic help is due to call and, apart from her normal tasks, she has taken it upon herself to remove articles of Meg’s clothing piece by piece which is very helpful to me. In fact, near relatives of a departed one often find that they need another relative or family friend to assist them in this task. After some three and a half months, the financial consequences of the loss of Meg’s income stream are starting to stabilise but this is quite a complicated business, not least because I have inherited a stub of Meg’s Teachers pension but now pay tax on it so my own pension is according reduced. Naturally, all of this is spreadsheeted to keep a track upon things but I suspect that it will take at least another month before things are absolutely on an even keel again.
Once I had learned via text that our domestic help was going to call around this Frida rather than Wednesday, I contemplated going into Droitwich where there one or two purchases I intended to make. But when I thought it through, I reasoned with myself that I could get everything I needed here in Bromsgrove and was more likely to bump into people that I knew and so I revised my plans. First, I visited the local Morrison’s store, not to buy food but I had in mind to replace some of our kitchen knives used for food preparation. We have used ‘kitchen devils’ practically since their introduction in the 1960’s and of the three that I had, only one remains (one having been broken and the other perhaps inadvertently thrown away) I think that the kitchen devils I am using may be at least 20 years old so I bought a three knife set of a chef’s knife, a utility knife and a paring knife. Once I got them home, they all have protective plastic sleeves and are incredibly sharp so I shall need be particularly careful I do not slice my finger tips off before I get used to them. I find it hard to assess their quality but if they last ten years (half the life of my present set) I shall be happy with this. I also bought some Pierre Cardin socks (reduced, they said, by 50%) and some more underpants (called ‘trunks’ nowadays) Then I went to Waitrose, had a coffee and collected my newspaper and set off along the High Street on a mission. I wanted to buy some jewelery more for a ‘chunky’ chain to put on Meg’s medallion before I pass it on. I located two pieces that I thought would do but of quite different designs so I can offer my niece a choice. When I got home, I spent quite a lot of time adapting one of the chains so that it would fasten correctly and then pressed on prparing a curry for myself, preparing enough both for my lunch today (which I found delicious, by the way) and the other portion for tomorrow. In the mid-afternoon I put up a clothes line (the other being rotten) ready for my clothing purchases once they emerge from the washing machine.
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