shops

this shop (now shut down) was asking for trouble when it ordered its sign saying it had been going for 40 years. it was committing itself to annual sign refreshes.
in the end, escalating sign costs lead to the demise of this once thriving premise. i imagine.

nobody likes old ice-cubes.

i passed an historic chemist which was being refurbished a few weeks back. the only thing insider was this potty which is a very strange colour.

they gave away 1 million sandwiches last year. but is that good i wonder ? 1 million is a lot of sandwiches.
imagine if they all went to one person. initially you’d be pleased and they’d probably be some media interest. but quickly you’d realise the logistical nightmare which would result.
You could sell a few on, but time would be running out before the best before date expired. And then what ? I pity that poor person i really do.

this shop has been saying its closing down for over 2 years now. it’s finally gone. i’m slightly relieved as it’s a horrible thing to have hanging over my walk each day. but now i can relax knowing the shock of its closure has now passed.
There’s another shop just up the road which has also been having its closing down sale for the last year. this was has recently changed its sale to ‘factory clearance’ suggesting it’s not going the same way.

the end of an era. harts the grocer on marylebone high street is to close on friday.
i like a shop that advertises when it’s closed rather than when it’s open. i also like it’s understated closing down sign. you almost don’t realise they mean closing FOR GOOD on the 13th.

and what at great footnote to have on a closing down notice:

click for big
(the website seems to have closed already)

now, i had a bit of a rant about he british post office system yesterday.
i was therefore delighted to spot this in the front garden of the post office in sherfield on loddon – it’s a crocodile, half a dog and a load of plastic ducks:

i was lucky enough to be able to spend half an hour in a post office today. i’ve written about my love of post offices before but each experience makes me want to write more.
i came prepared for this visit with some chocolate and an ice cool drink and happily chatted with my queue-neighbour for the 20 minutes it took to reach the cashier desks. i suspect the hot and airlessness is a ploy to kill a few customers off before they get served so the queues are shorter.
i was amazed to see this display for BT Broadband Internet. BT and the Post Office used to be the same nationalised company a few decades ago so it was nice they are working together in this way. Unfortunately their advert says “hurry, offer ends 2th June 2004” so it was over a month out of date which was most appropriate for the post office.
when i eventually got to a cashier the man told me off for arriving at his window too soon. “i didn’t press my button” he said. “well press it now” I said.
he looked me in the eyes, paused, then pressed his button. we were off !
there’s more to this story, but this isn’t a text blog so i’ll end it there.

the revamped tesco’s next to my office has obviously spent its advertising money on alcohol and giving free cocktails to shoppers. i went shopping with John as a kind of social lunchtime event.
it’s quite big and quite strong (tescos) and lots of people are merrily wandering around grinning whilst shopping.
one woman in the next aisle was busy shouting “criSPS, criSPS, ooh, doesn’t the SPS bit of criSPS sound funny, criSPS, criSPS”.
the local street alcoholics were enjoying it too, although you could tell they would rather drink straight from the bottle instead of these nice dainty cocktail glasses. the serving staff were less impressed by their drinking enthusiasm.

the tescos next to my office has been under construction for about a year and now it’s finally opened. hoorah.
so, having spent millions on refurbishing it, how did they celebrate the opening ? by hanging some balloons up and making a chap walk about with some cardboard on.

photo by dave