Cheltenham - Good And Bad

Last week I had my first visit to Cheltenham . One of the recurring themes of this week has been my inability to find a William Hills to cash in a winning bet !! Cheltenham was no exception , despite haveing four William Hills Shops I couldnt find a single one. Ladbrokes , Coral , Betfred , no problem , but William Hills seemed well hidden. I Eventually got my money on returning home!!

Royal Crescent Cheltenham - Pity about The Busses

Anyway Cheltenham has some magnificient buildings and wide streets although the beautiful Royal Crescent is marred by the fact they have put a bus station in front of it , very fitting!! It is amazing how some city planners have no sense of propriety , but the Royal Crescent is an impressive sight.

Clock Scupture in A Cheltenham Shooping Centre

One of the shopping centers has an amazing Clock Sculpture which also tells the time.!! Not a fan of shopping centres as such but they serve a purpose and Cheltenham's were not too bad. Also in the Beechwood center came across another Rise Records which caused me to aprt with more money. In an interesting flash of synchronicity the had a display of Frank Turner Cds and my friend Carol was seeing him in Cairns , Australia that very night at The Jack - Time differences allowing , so England Keep My Bones was among my purchases!

Seated Creature Comforts

On the Promenade which featured lots of expensive shops and street stalls selling exotic food I came across this weird sculpture , and I'm all for for interesting street scuptures. Although my favourite was the alarmed lion atop a hotel frontage in the same town.

Alarmed Lion

I definitely didnt have time to do the place justice , but will be visiting again . It vaguely reminded me of a big Southport but without the beach, although they are probably about the same distance from the sea!!




To finish an excellent Frank Turner video:

A Post A Day In May

   Well it's the early hours of Sunday morning on day six of the task I set myself. I still have to write up my visit to Cheltenham , and should reall do a post on the excellent Tebay Services one of the mentions in Bollocks To Alton Towers. Incidentally they are planning another on on the M5 so southereners can get the benefits of a brilliant service station.

As well as that this week I going to try and make Doxford Park by public transport , though that does mean going through Sunderland , but there is plenty going on in the football world., so I shouldnt really be struggling to write about things. Oh and it;s the first Bank Holiday this month as well:

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Well after a holiday week of cloud and rain , I'm greeted this morning with glorious sunshine. Great for driving home it and hope it keeps that way until Tuesday wen it's back to work.

This week The Sun have shown how low they will stoop for a headline in their abuse of Roy Hodgson , the latest because some German didn't know who he was . 

Still remember they are part of Rupert Murdoch's News International that also owns Fox News , so could you really expect anything else? Oh and the Sun has replaced the News of The World as the scum classes' paper of choice on a Sunday.

On that note I hope you all you West Bromich Albion and England fans follow Billy Bragg's advice:

Record Shops On The Rise In Worcester

I've just spent a rainy day in Worcester , despite a laborious trek to the wrong Park and Ride (but which took me where I wanted) . Amazed to see that HMV were selling umbrellas , yes I know it's raining but a record shop should not be selling umbrellas (as well as iPod docs , Mars bars etc etc).


Anyway wandering further I did a double take when I saw this place:

Rise Records In Worcester

Todays Purchases from Rise

Rise Records has been going for about a year and has a great stock of music on CD and vinyl as well as memorabillia and printed stuff such as books and magazines. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable , and they had obviously been involved in National Record Store Day jusging by the posters and vinyl artifacts.

My own purchase are on the right, the new Santigold album plus a Phil Manzanera disc as well as a Chess collection.

Absolutely excellent to see a thriving record shop free of X-Factor dross , and doing well as places like HMV lose their way in a desperate attempt to gain a few pennies to sell anything that might make anther penny or two.

You Can Always Talk About The Weather

Day three of trying to do a post a day for the month of May. Today would have been my mums 73rd birthday and she wasnt a fan of the rain! It's pouring down so today's trip to Cheltenham has benn postponed for the closer and more familiar Worcester.

I can't really complain as the holiday in Knighton was blessed with brilliant weather every day and part of the thing about holidaying in Britain is the unpredictability of the weather. It never fails to exasperate me when people expect the weather to behave predictably , the Met Office do their best , but there's always something else that can cause a knock on effect and knock all predictions out. So just take it and enjoy it for what it is!!

A Tempest In Stratford

Yesterday I went to see a production of  Shakespeare's "The Tempest" at The rebuilt RSC Theatre in Stratford yesterday.

Manga Shakespeare

The theatre is excellent not least for the excellent ventilation that ensures you remain awake for the whole of the performance. As well as that I picked up a manga version of "The Tempest" from the theatre shop, which I am looking forward to perusing as it is my favourite Shakespeare play. You can see the Reduced Shakepeare Company's version here.

Soldiers in the RSC Restaurant

I noticed lots of small model soldier displays around the bar which were there to advertise a "takeover day" on the 4th May. I'm not sure what is happening , may need to take another trip to Stratford on Friday to find out what it's all about









While in Stratford also found a brilliant restaurant  Edward Moon, which I would recommend to anyone.

The Avon is High

The Avon was very high at the time but just , lapping at the theatre steps , so no danger while we were there!!

Second Hand Plan - HMV , Poundland and Magpies

Many moons ago Music Magpie started buying CDs and DVDs from people , I wasnt sure exactly where this was going. Then That's Entertainment appeared on the high street , selling the second hand stuff to people as a proper record shop.

The thing is you can pick up a Robbie Williams , All Saints , Sugababes , Take That back catalogue for under a tenner second hand. The reason I'm posting this is that I've noticed Poundland are now selling second hand CDs for a pound , so I'm wondering if there is a connection.

Then yesterday I was in HMV in Stratford and noticed that HMV now have a second hand section where they sell stuff for £2 a throw. This was in addition to the Orange concession , the Apple / iPod Dock and DVD player display , T-Shirt section etc. They are so losing their identity .




The biggest irony is that despite selling CDs they don't sell anything you can play a CD on , well maybe their Blu-Ray and DVD players .....

Think Neil Innes Recycled Vinyl Blues is appropriate :