Stress Free.

Food shopping for Christmas all done on Queens Rd. Time taken. About 20 minutes. Stress level: Zero.
From Archers, a Copas (est 1957) free range Turkey, as recommended by Rick Stein. As it has enjoyed a very pleasant life strolling around a meadow and then being gentle put to sleep to the sound of Chopin, it should taste good. Leeks, carrots and other assorted veg from Peasgood’s, but no Cauliflower. There’s a shortage apparently. Also bought a red cabbage which is already in the slow cooker, finely chopped and mixed with a jar of Mango Chutney. Wine from Bargain Booze and various other bits and pieces from Sainsbury’s Local. Merry Christmas one and all!

A Great Success.

The first Queen’s Road Christmas Fair was blessed with perfect weather. Crisp, at around 0º, but a clear blue sky and a huge turnout. The shops were busy, the bars rammed and the stalls well attended. How rewarding to see so many people out and about talking to each other. Lets hope there’s another one next year. Photos shows Ian Reeds raising awareness for his Round the World cycle ride next year. In aid of Cancer Research and M.S. The band are Acoustic Abuse. A great act!

Bit of a do.

Sorry for the long absence of posts. I’ve been putting a lot of time and energy into other projects this year.

It seems we are to have a Christmas fair in Queens Rd. and I have reproduced the two sides of the flyer here, which are self explanatory. Hopefully the idea will be embraced by all and the sun will shine. I wonder if it will be anything like one in Spain where tempting local nibbles were on offer. Try one, salivate, then buy. I hope so.

It is most uncharacteristic, but I have just attended a meeting! 18 of us sat around a table in the Christchurch Meeting Rooms to make suggestions to Councillor Patrick Kitterick , who had a lot of good plans already, about what would make the event successful.

One of the best was that it should carry on after the planned 5.00 pm finish and migrate to a bar with live music and lots of beer! All those in favour.......

The work of spies.

Recently, a Queens Road Blog Stringer contacted me to alert this Blog to strange goings on at the far end of Queen Road. Somebody has been dumping hundreds of old music VHS tapes in the public litter bins. Clearly the work of spies, we should keep our eyes on developments. The main bins used seem to be the two at the far end of the road. I have not seen who turns up to collect the tapes, but expect it is a Cold War Spy and the tape featured here, craftily labelled 1960’s, in fact refers to escape routes over the Berlin Wall. Keep it to yourself though. Walls have ears.

No need to go out.

Blimey! We are all on Google maps for The World to see. Fascinating when looking at where other people live, but a little uncomfortable at looking at where we all live, especially in SUCH detail.

Tax collector.

Well. That’s what they are. Carefully positioned on the pavement (which I thought was reserved for pedestrians - Oh well). ‘We’re only doing our job Guv’ they would say. But they’re not. The idiots that do belt along Victoria Park Road at 60 mph do it when the boys in blue are playing snooker in the Police Social Club, pint of mild in hand. These snoopers just get us gullible idiots who let the speedo drift up to 35 mph whist gorping at the Uni students in short skirts, then make us feel like criminals.

Well. The snoopers missed me! I spotted their cheap trick and drove past smiling, benignly, at a steady 20 mph, two fingers waved at them, majestically, from under the dashboard.