panda boy

This very morning a shop keeper was telling me that some shops down the highstreet can pull in ?30,000 PER WEEK... (No names mentioned, but towards the goose green end...) I still lean towards having a record shop though. Firstly if the book shop can survive with it's eclectic collection of reading material, and Roulier White hasn't folded in the 1st year, then i see proof that if a shop sells what people want it can do well. I understand the need for a cheap pants shop though, and as it isn't just one empty shop we're talking about, maybe both underwear and music could live happily in harmony?

Hmmmm, ok very fair point. There is always the internet though, or mail order for such essentials? Do we really need a whole shop to cater for these things? (I know what you mean about ?20 cupcake tins though!)

I'm not knocking John Lewis, it is a quality store. But as it is a department store, (huge, large range of all sorts of things, many floors etc...) how would an small express version work? What 'essentials' could it possibly offer that can't be found locally already?

The majority of the suggestions of what people want to see on the highstreet fill me with cold fear, (a starbucks? are you all mad? How much more caffiene does the highstreet need? With the addition of Nero, there are now plenty of places to get good coffee, why spoil it with yet another example of the anti-christ's tea room?) The best suggestion so far has to be an independant music / record shop. (Madworld; i too have been pondering this idea, maybe your other half and myself could discuss further?) A John Lewis? You are all mad!!!

Just for the record the burgers in the Bishop are fantastic, probably the best around. Each one freshly made from minced fillets of beef, so you can have it cooked rare. If a 'Gourmet' burger place informed me they couldn't cook a burger rare then i'd be a little confused as to why they call themselves a gourmet kitchen? (Apart from the obvious marketing reasons...)

I'm sure that very few people on this forum would ever admit to such an offence, (even one that now carries even harsher penalties), but it can't just be me thats driven to distraction, (no pun intended) by people driving around ED while on the phone. Not being holier than thou about it, i'm trying to make a conscious effort to not answer/use my phone while driving, especially down residential roads, (or any road for that matter.) (It's actually quite easy when you try.) Either pull over when you can, or (horror) not answer the phone and call back later when you're not in control of over a ton of steel and glass, (or 2 tonnes if driving a 4x4.) Don't want to sound like i'm ranting, but it must be, (naturally bad driving not withstanding) one of the most annoying habits I experience, on a daily basis on the local roads. Any views appreciated...!?

JL. Confusion returning... The bus stop im banging on about must be less than 10-15 years old. Looks fairly newish, hence my confusion... (Unless there's some form of wired time-lapse council thing about re-newing bus-stops that aren't in use anymore? Wouldn't suprise me. Probably a once a year thing to keep their bus-stop budgets topped up?)

Thanks again Jah. Do you remember when it was last actually used as a bus stop? I can't remember ever having seen a bus go down there... (Mystery almost solved, mild confusion almost cleared up now...!)

Ah, that would make a certain kind of sense. Thanks Jah Lush. But i still think the bus planning division were wildely optimistic about their chances of getting their busses round that corner without incident... It would be bits of 4x4 bumper for days! (Also a bus load of people being disgorged right on top of the bins from the Bishop, especially in summer - nice!)

Does anyone have any idea what the bus-stop round the corner from the Bishop (Crawthew Grove) is actually for? Buses don't go down there, to my knowledge never have, and probably never will. (Mainly due to the usually fantastic parking on the corner a little way up..!) Maybe the plan the bus-stop planters were reading was upside down...?