Sunday Trading

   For the duration of the eight week period covering the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Sunday trading laws have been relaxed allowing large shops to open for much longer. Now there are rumblings within government wanting to make this permanent. Whilst I realise that some occupations require Sunday working such as the emergency services and transport workers, Sunday for many people, religious or not, is still a special day of the week when they can spend time at home with their families or enjoy leisure activities.

   For me the relaxation of Sunday trading laws would be the thin end of the wedge and before too long I can see office and factory workers being required to turn up for work on any of the seven days of the week. Already many sporting events traditionally held on a Saturday have spread over into Sunday but taking it to its logical conclusion, if Sunday were to become just another day in the week, I could see major football matches for example being arranged on a Tuesday or a Thursday afternoon so that the Sunday workers could see them on their alternative day off - if they were still entitled to one. No enough is enough, the legislation was altered to accommodate the Olympics and when the games are finished the law should return to its previous state - and stay there. Or is it going to be yet another broken government promise?

Mission Accomplished!

This time last year I made a New Year resolution to take and post at least one image to this Blog every day throughout 2010. Like all New Year resolutions I didn't expect it to last and pondered how long I would be able to keep it up. I have to admit that it's been quite a challenge and caused many an extra mile to be walked simply because I HAD to go out to get a photo. But now the year is at an end and I've made another resolution for 2011 - I'm not going to do it again! Today's photo was easy though as four "living" statues stood on Bath Street this morning. They remained motionless until someone dropped an offering into the bowls in front of them when they would bow or curtsey to acknowledge the donation. Well that's it for 2010 - I'll be back in 2011 but not every day. Happy New Year.

Fog

Yesterday the danger was black ice but although it had disappeared today, the problem was that if any did remain we may not have seen it through the fog. It wasn't too bad on Bath Street but in other parts of town it was quite dense. More shops were open today even though it is traditionally half day closing on Wednesday and most of them had "Sale" signs plastered all over their windows. I suspect the picture being carried by this lady was a sale acquisition but the sunshine in her picture was the only brightness we saw all day.

Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day. Yesterday couldn't be as Boxing Day falls on the first WORKING day after Christmas Day and is NEVER on a Sunday so the Boxing Day sales that started yesterday were jumping the gun. In Ilkeston today the sales were in full swing although you'd hardly know it as the charity shops, banks, mobile phone shops and banks were all closed and with all the empty premises on Bath Street there was not a great deal to turn out for. The usual suspects however turned the pedestrian area into a cross between car park and a race track and there was no one about to do a thing about it. It may be the season of good will to all men but inconsiderate drivers who ignore the traffic laws really test my patience.

The Christmas Box

Yesterday I wrote about pantomimes traditionally starting on Boxing Day but the origin of the name "Boxing" comes from an old church custom of opening the Alms box to share amongst the poor in the Parish. Later the Victorians treated their tradesmen to tips at Christmas and these became known as their Christmas Box. The practice of giving and receiving presents at Christmas is still an important part of the season and in the commercialism of Christmas it is sometimes forgotten the gift mankind was given 200 years ago with the birth of Jesus. Perhaps these shop window displays that both feature boxes of varying shapes and sizes will act as a reminder.

It's Behind You!

Traditionally pantomimes open on Boxing Day but many productions have already broken with tradition and opened already. Aladdin for example, the professional show, opened in Nottingham at the beginning of December and continues until mid-January as the poster (one of many in the town) in a shop on Bath Street shows.

One of the features of pantomimes is the audience participation with cries of "Oh no it isn't - Oh yes it is!" and "He's behind you" shouted raucously by hordes of children. A variation of that second cry could well be applied to the second poster in the shop window advertising another pantomime "Beauty and the Beast" for this amateur production by the Ilkeston Theatre Group took place in November. Truly it can be said of this pantomime "It's behind you."

All pantomimes though whether amateur or professional have their origins in Mummers' plays which date back about a thousand years and show the fight between good and evil. In every pantomime there's always the happy ending with good always triumphing over its adversary.

This Makes A Change

We've grown accustomed in Ilkeston to seeing shops on Bath Street close and businesses move out of town but there's one that has opened recently. It makes a change but it won't be there for long though as it is only a temporary outlet for fireworks. I just hope there aren't too many let off before or after Bonfire night - one of our cats is terrified by all the squealing and banging.

A Break In The Weather

The population seemed to be taking advantage of a respite in the weather and crowds were swarming all over the town centre this morning. Perhaps after all the rain of yesterday, it was a good opportunity to take advantage of some sunny weather before the next system comes in and deposits another load of rain on us and that's the forecast for the next few days. I bet the market traders in particular were thankful for today's better conditions. Seen here from the bottom of Bath Street, the top end seemed particularly busy.

Education, Education, Education

In the UK a metre is "the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)" and a meter is "any of various devices designed to measure time, distance, speed, or intensity or indicate and record or regulate the amount or volume, as of the flow of a gas or an electric current."

So if you happen to have a square electric or gas meter, then this shop on Bath Street should be able to carpet it for you. Whatever happened to education?

Stop & See

It was over the Christmas period in 2000 that the "Ilkeston Flyer" ran up and down Bath Street and although it proved very popular helping shoppers up and down the hill, it hasn't been seen since and you don't have to visit an optician to confirm that. There are still several Stop signs at various points on Bath Street including this one right outside an optician's shop if you still don't believe me. As we will soon be reaching the tenth anniversary of the road train's temporary visit and in view of the government's policy just announced to remove surplus and confusing signs there is perhaps no better place to start than here .... or can we still expects it's return in December? Probably not.

In For A Penny

There's a well known phrase that states "In for a penny, in for a pound" so as I've already photographed three information boards this week, I might as well add a fourth. This one is at the "Bottom of Town" and acts as a reminder to what this end of Bath Street and the surrounding area was like prior to the demolition of many buildings and the construction of Chalons Way.

 

The board like those seen previously includes a schematic of the old tram routes and shows the depot on Park Road, a terminus on Station Road and another at Cotmanhay as well as indicating stops at Gallows Inn and the Market Place. Whilst there are information boards at some of these locations I don't think they are in the same style as the four already seen which use the same colours and fonts as the trams of yesteryear.

Sandwiched

There's another of those information boards sandwiched between an old style telephone kiosk (much nicer than the new sort don't you think?) and a pub sign in front of the Poplar Inn on Lower Bath Street.

Don't take any notice though of the Live Music, Traditional Ales or Hot and Cold Food - the Poplar has closed and the pub is boarded up so if you want any food it will have to be from a nearby chip shop although the one directly opposite is also closed or like the information board - a sandwich!

Holiday Choice

Holiday companies organise all sorts of transport options these days but I hope the motor bike is not part of a cut price coach trip.I suspect it belongs to a customer but why it was parked in the middle of a pedestrian area is just another of those questions that will probably never be answered.

Looking For Gold

To continue the theme I went out today actually looking for gold and found it on Bath Street.

I must have walked past this A-board outside the Money Shop times without number and never really noticed before that it said "Cash for Gold". The challenge is now to find another example tomorrow.

Get Well Soon

This lady was in a hospital bed on Saturday morning  but she still looked happy enough.

She was taking part in the Ilkeston Community Hospital's League of Friends' annual bed push and was part of the Rotary Club's team raising funds for the local hospital. Other teams came from Manners Ward and Oakwell Ward at the hospital but after pushing the bed up the hill, they were all looking forward to being met by the Mayor and sampling the drinks available at a stall on the Market Place.

It's a surprise though that no-one actually needed the bed for real on Saturday as while the team paused for photographs, the bed and pedestrians had to move to the side to allow a large white van to illegally make its way through the pedestrian zone.

Resisting Temptation

On the second Bank Holiday Monday this month, Bath Street once again became an illegal car park but having photographed it many times before I resisted the temptation today. I can assure you though that there were more vehicles on the pedestrian only part of Bath Street than on this resident's car park.

It really is getting beyond a joke now and it's time something was done about it. Today there were toddlers and young children running down the street as well as adults wandering about but the vehicles were still speeding up the hill as though they had every right to be there. If someone doesn't get seriously injured or worse soon, it won't be for the want of trying!

Accordion Convention

You could be forgiven for thinking there was an accordion convention in Ilkeston today as there were two buskers on Bath Street. One was outside the Jonathan James shoe shop opposite the Albion Centre.

The second was further down the hill outside Wilkinson's store and he interspersed his accordion music with further pieces played on the flute.

Meanwhile in the Cantelupe Centre at St Mary's Church, our friend Janet who has only been playing the accordion for a year was undertaking a sponsored two hour play to raise funds for Christian Aid. I don't know how much the buskers collected but Janet's effort will raise over £300 for the charity when it is all collected in.

May Bank Holiday

The picture today really needs no comment except to say it's just another Bank Holiday and Bath Street contrary to popular belief is still a pedestrian zone. Not that you would know it by the number of vehicles parked there again.

If the illegally parked vehicles don't give it away, the weather almost certainly will. There have been a few sunny intervals but for most of the day, it's been cold,wet and windy. As I said, just another Bank Holiday.

Street Art

Several of the empty shops on Bath Street had their windows boarded up and were given a facelift by the addition of enlargements of old scenes of Ilkeston. It was not the most unexpected thing in this world when some of them became the target of vandals but now in the last day or two, the remaining old photos have been complemented by some colourful street art.

This picture above shows just two of the new additions alongside one of the original old scenes but all of them are labelled Class .... and one also has the initials K J S which leads me to suspect that they have been prepared by children from Kensington Junior School. I just hope that the vandals can keep their hands off or better still some business entrepreneur could open up the shops again and revitalise the lower end of Bath Street.

Special Offers

According to the advertising boards on Bath Street it seems that special offers are the order of the day. Half price jewellery at H. Samuel and half price chocolate at Thorntons plus special offers on photo prints at Manor Pharmacy are just a few of the current deals but I wonder if these advertising boards come at a discount too. They seem to be multiplying day by day.

I was going to say that an advertising board salesman seems to to a good job but on second thoughts, I guess the market has already been flooded so it's perhaps not such a good idea after all.