Curtains

 When I moved into the almshouse, the previous lady had left behind some good quality curtains - but a bit too floral for my tastes.  A year has passed, and I started thinking about changing the curtains round, so I went into Hereford this morning to look for some new ones.  I thought that it would be easy....

There used to be a shop that did made to measure curtains and blinds - but it's gone now.  So I went round all the big stores - no curtains.  And I went round the charity shops - some curtains, but not the sizes I needed.  Finally I tried fabric shops - I can always have a go at making my own.  The fabric shop behind the Green Dragon has gone - there's an interesting looking burger bar and bookshop there now.  And there used to be a good shop for patchwork in Capuchin Yard, but that seems to be selling general homeware now.

In the other fabric shop near Maylord Orchards, the lady was actually adjusting some curtains for a customer, and she told me the only place that sold ready made curtains was Dunelms - which is out of town, of course.  I have walked out there, when I wanted to go to the Hobbycraft shop that's in the same group of big shops, but getting a taxi from the railway station is easier.  Of course, I'd run out of time for today, if I wanted to catch the bus home, so that will have to be a project for another trip.

No Boots in Hereford

 Well, there are plenty of boots in Hereford, but none of them were what I was looking for - and I went into every shop that sold boots!

I thought it would be fairly easy to fulfill my requirements - I needed a pair of light brown, tall boots with a low heel.  I didn't care if they had zips or laces or were pull on.  They could be plain or decorated.  The important thing was light brown, and low heel.

I'd tried in Hay, first of all.  There's a lovely pair of boots in Golesworthy's that I tried on, but they were obviously made for someone with stick-like legs, because I couldn't get the zip to fasten all the way, and I don't have fat legs.  I just have healthy calves from doing a lot of walking.

So I assumed I'd have more choice in Hereford - and I was wrong.  There were plenty of black boots, and a few dark brown boots.  The only boots that came even vaguely close to what I was looking for were either nearly thigh length (which would just be silly) or, again, too narrow for the zip to fasten.

So I came home, logged onto ebay, and found a suitable pair for a reasonable price in two minutes.

No wonder our shopping centres are dying!

Recycling Round the Market

 I've been returning bottles and jars today.

I got a small bottle of Artistraw cider for an apple recipe I wanted to try, which worked very well, and I noticed on the bottle that they will take back the empty bottles, so that was my first port of call.

Then I went up to the Buttermarket to Tams Jam stall, and on the way I met a friend who was also interested in returning jars rather than putting them in the recycling.  Tam wasn't there, but I returned my jar and bought some Three Fruits Marmalade.

And then to Londis to return my glass milk bottles.

And it's a lovely sunny (and frosty) day to wander round the market, too.

A New Record Player

 Somewhere around twenty five years ago, I was given a second hand record player to play my collection of vinyl.  Just before I moved house, the record player died, and I decided to wait until I'd moved to get a new one, so I'd have one less thing I needed to move.

So last week I headed into Hereford, and walked out to Currys.  The cheapest turntable they had was £89, but the sales assistant refused to sell me one  because they only had the display model left.  I think he was hoping I'd buy something more expensive, but I just shrugged, said I'd have to wait a bit longer to listen to my records, and left.

There's a secondhand electrical place on Eign Gate (I got my camera from there) but they didn't have any turntables in stock.

I wasn't sure where else to try when I came out of there - until I looked across the street at a shop which sells vintage stuff, and there was a turntable on display in the window.  It was in a bright red carrying case, and it cost me £25.  All I needed to do was to buy a lead to plug it in (and the nice young man assured me that, if it didn't work, I could bring it straight back).

So the next day I went to see Tim Pugh, on the Pavement, and he sorted me out with the correct lead.  The built in speakers don't seem to work very well, but I had free standing speakers which plugged in the back and work just fine - and for a lot less than £89!

Shopping Spree in Hereford

Over lockdown I'd made a long list of things that I needed to buy in Hereford, when the shops were open again, and yesterday was the first chance I had to get there.

I'm not naturally a morning person, but I decided to take the early bus in (6.59am), which got me to the railway station at just after 8am.  I bought tickets for my upcoming holiday, and then headed into the town centre to see if any shops were open so early.

The newsagents was, and when the lad behind the counter saw the archaeology magazine I was buying, he took the opportunity to tell me all about the History Channel programme he'd seen about Ancient Aliens building the pyramids, and how he was convinced that Atlantis was actually somewhere under the Black Sea.*

I had gift vouchers for Marks & Spencers, which opens promptly at 8am, and I pretty much had the place to myself for browsing.  I also managed to get into Primark for cheap leggings and long-sleeved tshirts before a queue built up outside, so it was well worth getting up early.

I noticed a lot of empty shops, including famous names like Laura Ashley, Monsoon and Hotters shoes, and I was disappointed to find the shutters down on Cult Vintage - I was hoping to get some more vintage silk blouses.  However, they are not closed for good - just re-locating across the way to another empty shop, so I'm looking forward to them re-opening.  I did manage to get into Debenhams before they close down for good.

Another thing I really needed was a new alarm clock - after my old one broke I started using my travel alarm clock, but it has a very annoying tick.  Fortunately Hinds the jewellers had a perfect replacement, with a button on top to light up the clock face when you want to see the time in the middle of the night.  The girl who served me was looking forward to her first ComicCon - she had planned to go last year, but of course everything was cancelled.

There were a few stalls in the square, including Monkhide Wine.  I treated myself to a bottle of mead.  They also had Elderflower wine and fruit liqueurs.  The mead is delicious, and they have a website at www.monkhide.com

I came home laden with new clothes and most of the essential items on my list. I also couldn't resist popping into Waterstones, where I found the latest Becky Chambers book 'the galaxy, and the ground within', and the latest Rivers of London book What Abigail Did Last Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, so it was a pretty successful trip.

*Note: Ancient Aliens did not build the pyramids, and Atlantis is almost certainly not somewhere under the Black Sea.

Trip to Hereford

I've now travelled into Hereford three times in a week (there were things I wasn't able to do in one day, so I had to go back), which was quite an adventure since I've not left Hay since March.

It did not start well - I went to the bus stop to check the times, and discovered (after waiting for half an hour for a bus that didn't come) that the timetables at the bus stops are wrong.

The true timetable is online, and a friend who lives across the road from the bus stop told me that the bus from Hereford and the bus from Brecon both come in at twenty to eleven and turn round in the car park before picking up new passengers.

So I returned at twenty to eleven, and got on the bus.  

Masks are now mandatory on the buses.

They don't seem to do the Powys Rover any more, so I got a Return ticket to Hereford, and they really want you to pay with the exact money.  It is also possible to pay with a card now.

About half the seats in the bus have a cardboard sleeve round them to ask passengers not to sit there - the bus I was on each time was limited to 19 passengers in total.  People mostly followed the rules, but some didn't seem to notice the signs.

Once in Hereford, I did the business I needed to do.  Masks must be worn in all the shops and banks and so on.

I also thought I might check out the charity shops, but didn't have much luck there.  Some seem to be still closed.  Others, like the Cancer Research, have moved out completely.  I did get a good quality sheet at the RSPCA shop, and a couple of bits at the Blue Cross.  I didn't have time to check out the charity shops along St Owen Street.

There's a new comic specialist on Hereford Indoor Market.

Laura Ashley is having their Closing Down Sale, and the shoe shop tReds and Hawkins Bazaar have also closed down - I used to go in Hawkins Bazaar occasionally for frivolous things like Star Wars merchandise.  Speaking of frivolous purchases, I went into Waterstones to buy the Good Omens Script Book, and also bought an original series Star Trek communicator.  I have wanted one since I was six years old!  It makes noises - but I can't quite flip the top up like Captain Kirk did on TV.

I was very pleased to see the wool stall in the square - I used up every scrap of wool in my house over lockdown and I've been itching to do more with my lucet and round loom (I'm not sure what I'm making yet - but it's going to be a very long tube!)

I had enough time for a quick half before the bus back home (quarter past two from the Railway Station), so I stopped outside the Imperial to read the instructions there.  They want customers to use an app to order from the bar, and the drink will be brought to the table.  I don't have a mobile phone, so I stuck my head round the door to ask if it was possible to order from the bar if I didn't have the app.  The staff looked deeply uncomfortable about this - and one of them asked me for my home phone number, if I didn't have a mobile.  I didn't see how this would help, since my home phone was an hour's bus ride away - so I came away.

Instead, I went to the Litchfield Vaults, where it is possible to order and pay at the bar.  I sat outside in their little beer garden at the back and enjoyed my half of Wainwright's Golden Ale.

More Shopping in Hereford

Still taking advantage of the sales, and the free Saturday bus, but this time my mission was to buy a new phone handset. While I was looking after my neighbour's cat she got a claw entangled in my tablecloth and pulled everything to the floor. It wasn't her fault (and she spent some time afterwards hiding under the bed), and I thought I'd got away without any damage until someone phoned me. When I picked the receiver up, it rattled.
It was a very old phone, and I'd been thinking I'd have to replace it soon anyway.
The only thing to do seemed to be to make the long trek out to PC World again. In the large area they have devoted to mobile phones, I found precisely 3 handsets, one of which had extra big buttons for partially sighted people. At least a phone is a lot lighter to carry round than a printer.
Back in the town centre, I managed to look past all the black trousers in Marks and Spencers, and spent my gift cards on a linen shirt in "dusted lilac" and a pale tan pair of trousers.
I also picked up a nice pair of teal corduroy trousers from the Edinburgh Woolen Mill in their sale, which was very convenient for a pot of Oolong tea at the Antique Tea Room, as a brief break from retail therapy.
My next purchases were pure frivolity - I went in The Entertainer toy shop, where they had some Star Wars figures on special offer. I came away with Rose Tico in her First Order disguise, in a box with BB-8 and the black First Order droid, Poe Dameron in his X-wing flight suit and Princess Leia in her costume from The Empire Strikes Back, on the Hoth ice planet. This made me very happy.

Hereford for the Sales

It wasn't as busy as I expected.
For Christmas I got two M&S vouchers, so I thought I'd head into Hereford to see what I could find.
As it was Saturday, the bus fare was Zero - for a return ticket.
Marks and Spencers was full of black trousers, and I don't need any black trousers. The lovely silky blouses I'd seen some time before Christmas were nowhere in evidence.
But, I had a Plan B.
I also needed a new printer, as the old one won't do black any more, so I walked out up Widemarsh Road to the Currys/PC World there, and succeeded in finding a colour printer for £29.99. They only seem to stock Hewlett Packard, though I'm sure that will be fine. I haven't got round to trying it out yet.
This meant, of course, that I now had a fairly large box to carry round with me for the rest of my shopping trip, which wasn't so bad at first, but it gradually got heavier and heavier. Next time I'm going to embrace my inner little old lady, and take a shopping trolley!
However, I did find some nice trousers (in sage green and rust brown) in Debenhams, so the clothing part of the trip wasn't a total write-off.

These Boots were Made for Cosplay

My favourite boots fell apart yesterday. I'd noticed that the heels had worn down, and I intended to take them to the cobblers to be re-heeled - after I'd worn them as part of my Tardis engineer costume at this year's EasterCon. Then I noticed the way the top part had come away from the sole, leaving a three inch long gap. Rachael at work suggested UHU and pegs to stick them back together again, but I decided the time had come to take them down to the recycling bin in the car park, and find a new pair.

Of course, I was doing this just as all the shops in town are changing over to summer fashions, so there were a lot of sandals, but not many boots.
In a corner of Golesworthy's, though, there was a sale shelf, and one of the pairs of boots there was in my size - so I now have a lovely pair of black boots, with laces up the back, in real leather. My Tardis engineer will look fantastic!

A New Camera (Sort of)

One of the errands I was doing on Saturday (which cut into valuable drinking time) was to buy a new camera.
I got the one I've been using second hand from Jo Eliot, which has been taking photos for the blog all this time, but when I went out to take a picture of Tomatitos the other day with all the plaster off the walls, it finally stopped working. I tried changing the batteries, taking the memory card out and putting it back.... Nothing worked, and there it was, stuck with the lens half way out.
So I thought I'd have a look for a brand new camera.
There's a little camera shop in Hereford, and they showed me something very nice, but the bottom end of the range was £100. They said there's not a lot of demand for basic "point and click" cameras any more, because that sort of picture can be taken on phones now.
That was a little bit above my budget, so I went round the corner to Argos. The cheapest camera they had was £49.99 - but I really needed someone to explain to me what the different features were, technologically challenged as I am.
So I went up to Cash Generator, the second hand shop, and a lovely girl came to help me. She said she'd only been working there three days, and she was brilliant! We had a look at a little Nikon, and she demonstrated how it worked, and we talked about batteries and memory cards. The camera body was only £20. She had a sale!
I took the memory card out of the old camera, and it seems to work fine - better than the old one, in fact. It even makes a little camera shutter noise when you take a picture! I'm about to go out to play with it now.

Getting Lost in Debenhams

So, my brown shoes (bought at the Royal Welsh Showground when I was volunteering at the Fairtrade stand at the Smallholders Fair a few years ago) and my black pumps both gave up the ghost at the same time and went to the great re-cycling bin in the car park. I have boots of various colours, and I have one pair of sandals, and a couple of pairs of pumps, but no light shoes suitable for work.
The first step in these circumstances is to see what's available in Hay - and there was really nothing I liked.
So I went round Hereford - I like Hotter's shoes, but again there was nothing that jumped out and said "Buy me!"
The one shop I didn't try was Clarks, because they have moved to the new shopping centre.
So this Friday I tried again, and got off the bus at the Old Market stop.
The first open door I saw led into Debenhams. "They do shoes," I thought, so in I went.
In fact they do very nice shoes, in a vast array of different styles, and I saw something I liked almost immediately. They were even in the sale. I didn't want to pay straight away, though, so I wandered round to see what else was in the store with the pair of shoes in my hand.
Coming down the escalator from the home furnishings department, I was just ahead of a lady and her toddler grandson - who was trying out the moving stairs for the first time. So I hopped on first, to show him how it was done, and off again at the bottom, and told his gran how it had always been a big treat when I was young to go into Manchester Town Centre to go in the department stores with escalators (and in Kendals, a real lift!). By that time I'd lost where the desk to pay at was, which was at the far end from where I found the shoes, and then I walked out of a completely different door to the one I'd walked in at.
It was the first time I'd walked round the new shopping centre - and it really could have been anywhere in the country. It has nothing about it to indicate that the shops are in Hereford.
I still needed black shoes, but Clarks was unexciting when I found it, and though I wandered through Next and Fatface and various other stores, I didn't see anything I liked.
So it was back into the town centre, where I found some perfectly adequate and quite comfortable pumps in Sports Direct.

When I went to Mallyfest, I tried out some poi - they're a sort of weight on the end of a string that you whirl round your head in patterns. I believe they were originally some sort of Maori weapon. Some of the re-enactors I know do it with poi that they set on fire, which never really appealed to me, but the ones I tried had ribbons attached, which seemed much safer, and also a rather good way of exercising the arms. Theres a shop up by Peacocks that sells juggling equipment, and they had just the thing, so I shall be practicing in the back garden soon.

Dylan with fire poi - this is NOT what I'll be doing!

Cardiff on Match Day

I had a gift voucher for Marks and Spencers for Christmas - but when I looked in the Hereford branch, there was nothing that I wanted to buy.
Then one of my colleagues came into work wearing new boots that she'd bought in Clarks in Cardiff ("not the main one - the one by one of the entrances to St David's arcade") and she said they were the most comfortable boots she had come across, as well as looking just a bit Steampunk, with laces up the front.
So I thought I'd have a day out.

The 39 gets into Brecon Interchange about 5 minutes before the T4, which goes on to Cardiff, and I was able to use the same Explorer ticket for the whole day out - so £7.30 for the return trip. I usually get off at the Castle, because that's nice and close to Forbidden Planet. I've been getting more educated about comics/graphic novels lately, so that's where I wanted to start. Also, there are toilets at Queen's Arcade, which is an important consideration when you've been on a bus for a couple of hours.
To my great joy, I found the Green Arrow story Hunter's Moon, by Mike Grell, which is the follow up story to The Longbow Hunters. These are the stories I remember when they first came out - I used to go to a comic shop round the corner from New Scotland Yard, and read Green Arrow stories over my (frankly rather horrible, but cheap) vegetarian curry in the police canteen. It's great to see them again - and they are just as good as I remember. I also found a Captain Marvel comic to keep me going until the next collection of stories comes out.

I wasn't sure where Marks and Spencers was, but I was pretty sure that if I walked up and down the shopping area methodically, I'd find it. I blew my gift voucher on a couple of pretty blouses - and further along the road (is it still a road when it's pedestrianised?) I found a shop selling "fashions direct from France and Italy" which was having a closing down sale - everything was £5.
By now my bags were getting full, but I found another pretty top in the Edinburgh Woollen Mill sale, and I treated myself to Rivers of London and the next book in the series Moon Over Soho, by Ben Aaronovitch. I recently read something similar by Paul Cornell, a police procedural involving London and magic, called London Falling, - Ben Aaronovitch's take on the idea seems slightly less inclined towards horror, with a bit more humour. (It's always London - I suppose there's less of a market for Canals of Birmingham, or Irwell and Irk in Manchester).

Another fun place to visit when in Cardiff is the indoor market. There's a huge record shop on the balcony, with everything meticulously labelled, and downstairs I found more comics at the book stall. They had a run of Elfquest comics (another favourite from my 1980s comic reading past) from the first issue, with a few gaps in the sequence, but he only wanted £5 for 15 of them.
Another nice thing about Cardiff is that it's a city of covered arcades, which is very handy in the weather we've been having. I had a mocha with so much cream on the top I had to eat it with a spoon before I got to the coffee, at Le Rendezvous at the entrance to the Queen's Arcade.

The final port of call was the Goat Major pub, just across from the main entrance to the Castle - because it's close to the bus stop home, and the Brains is always excellent.
It was full of French rugby fans. There were women with red, white and blue curly wigs, and men in berets (some of them bearing badges with a cockerel on them) - and one chap looking absolutely resplendent in a black and gold tail coat, with epaulettes, white trousers and high boots, and a magnificent hat - a black bicorne trimmed with some sort of white fur, and further decorated with red, white and blue ribbons. He also had a France rugby scarf tied around his waist.

Back in Brecon, I'd missed the connection to Hay by about five minutes, but that was okay. I looked into the Brecon branch of Edinburgh Woollen Mill, which was having the same sale as the one in Cardiff, but with slightly different stock, and came away with two long cardigans. The Clarence advertises real ale, and they had three Wye Valley beers on handpump, so I sat in there for a while until it was time for the bus to come.

Quick Service!

On 10th July, I wrote about the day trip to Bath that I went on with the Traveller's Club. While I was there, I found a wonderful tea shop called the Bath Tea Emporium, and tried some of their Russian Caravan Tea.
When I went up to Lincoln for the Steampunk Asylum in September, I found another wonderful tea shop, and bought some more Russian Caravan Tea.
Yesterday, I was down to the last spoonful - but which shop should I order more from?
I decided to try the Bath shop first, since I'd found it first, and ordered some more Russian Caravan Tea and some Bath Breakfast tea.
I had a bit of a lie in this morning, as it's my day off - and the postman brought a small package just as I was getting breakfast ready. It was the tea, just in time for my first cup of the day!
That's what you call good service!

Frivolous Things

I should be saving up my pennies for the new tooth that I'm getting from the dentist - which is why I embarked on some 'retail therapy' this weekend.
There was this corset in the window of the Red Cross shop. It's black lace/embroidery with little brass studs, perfect for a Steampunk outfit*. It's also a size 8. I have never been a size 8, even in my skinniest times. However, it was also too good a bargain to miss. I decided that no-one had to see the back - it'll be covered with a military style black jacket, while the corset is held together with elastic! Which works pretty well, over a black pullover (I'm not showing off that much flesh, even for a costume!). If I wear it with a dark red long skirt and my high heeled lace up shoes, it should look pretty good.
And then there's the vortex manipulator. Got to have the brass and leather based 'technology' to go with it. So I got a rather nice archery arm guard from Merlin Archery. Then I needed to fake some buttons to press, so I can use it to teleport. Bedecked on Castle Street came up with just the thing, some sparkly braid that I cut up small and surrounded by brass washers from Jones Hardware, all jazzed up with some brass bits from picture hanging, and some picture wire.
So now I'm ready for the absinthe party that my young man is planning when he comes down to visit next.
I also found myself inside the Antique Market this weekend, and there was this Victorian nightdress....I'd lifted it down from the hook before I'd even thought about it - beyond the instant reaction of "Mine!" I'm going to wear it as a summer dress, with a coloured sash.
(and, yes, I am weird - why do you ask?)

*Steampunk is what the Victorian era would have been like if the works of Jules Verne and HG Wells had been factual!

Brecon re-development

New plans are on show for the re-development of Brecon town centre. They can be seen at the museum and the library at the moment, and until 23rd October - the re-development of the museum is an integral part of the scheme. There will also be an open day on Saturday 16th October from 10.30am to 3.30pm with representatives from the museum, library service, Powys Archives and the project architect - which I presume will be at the Museum, but The Post, where I got this information from, doesn't actually say, and the B&R doesn't mention an open day at all.
The original plans, revealed late last year, involved knocking down the Library, which may not be beautiful, but is a very good library - and there didn't seem to be any plan to build a new library anywhere else.
Now a new library is part of the plan, to be put on the present site of the New County Hall building, which used to be used as the Magistrates Court, at the back of the museum.
There's been quite a bit of controversy about the plans - not just about the library, but also the plan to attract high street chain stores into town.
The National Parks is the planning authority over the area, and the County Council are putting the plans forward and plan to sell some of their existing buildings to partly fund the scheme.
Now they're waiting to see if their lottery bid is accepted.

Meanwhile in Hereford, there is huge opposition to the plans to build what amounts to a whole new town centre on the old cattle market - when the present town centre is struggling to survive (could the large number of supermarkets in the city have anything to do with that, I wonder?).

Trip to the Big City

Well, Hereford, anyway.

I went in to see Mark off on the train, and after that, I had a bit of time to mooch around before it was time for the bus home.
There were a lot of signs up around town protesting about the proposed new shopping centre on the site of the present cattle market. With the shopping centre that Hereford already has under pressure, with stores like Chadds closed and quite a few empty shops, it seems that local feeling is that the Council should look after the shopping centre it's got, rather than spending millions on building a new one. Some of the shops had closed earlier on the Friday, to be there when a petition was handed in at the Town Hall.

I usually go in the Cathedral if I have time, and on Friday they had a display in one of the side parts - showing a pair of shoes for each person who had died on the roads in Herefordshire this year. Some were scruffy, some were smart - there was a lovely pair of evening shoes in a sort of turquoise, with matching evening bag. There were two pairs of biker's boots, too. It was a powerful reminder of the tragedies behind the road traffic statistics.

Not a 24/7 Society

A visitor asked me, the other day, if the Wholefood shop was open.
"It's Sunday," I said, "so I'm afraid not."
They seemed surprised.

I was outside the butcher's on Broad Street a few weeks ago. They'd closed early - it was about 3.30pm. I overheard a couple of visitors complaining bitterly - how dared they close just when the visitors wanted to buy meat?

"I don't think some of the shops in town want to sell books," said another visitor recently, complaining about how early some of the shops in town close. I tried to explain that some shops are one man bands, or have only a few staff - and they have homes to go to, and lives outside work. Some booksellers are very active in other areas of the community than just selling stuff.

"You still have half-day closing here?" some visitors say, in tones that imply 'how bizarre and archaic'.
Half-day closing is on Tuesdays, traditionally because people from Hay went into Brecon on that day to the market there.

"Why is nothing open before ten o'clock?"
Actually, quite a lot of shops are open before ten o'clock in the morning - but for the rest, there's a traditional answer again. In the days that the railway went through Hay, the first train bringing potential customers to town came into the station at about 10 o'clock, so there was no point in opening before that.

There are plenty of opportunities to buy stuff in Hay - but Hay is not a city, and has its own natural rhythms.
And there's more to life than going round shops.

Hats!

Two friends from my distant past visited yesterday - we worked out that we hadn't seen each other for about 28 years! Karen and Jeanette have kept in touch with each other since we all left Sixth Form, but they only recently caught up with me.
It was great to see them again, and we talked just about non-stop - memories of school, shouting across the shelves of one bookshop: "Do you remember what novel we did for O-level?"
"'Yes, I remember Adelstrop....'"
"That was the poems - what about the book?"
"We did Twelfth Night...."
"No, it wasn't Jane Eyre...."
"Kes!"
And we caught up with our lives since school - the Reader's Digest versions anyway - and Jeanette fell in love with some art work at Haymakers, and Karen found that the cardigan she liked at La Maison didn't fit....
And we went in Golesworthy's. Karen now works for a hat company called Failsworth in Manchester, and as we wandered through the shop, she saw the stand of tweedy caps. "I wonder if any of these are ours?" She looked at the label. "They are! Look! We do these as well!"
Mr Golesworthy just happened to be passing at the time, and he knew her name when she introduced herself.
Another couple were shopping in there, and the chap came up and took his cap out from the breast of his coat. "Is this one of yours then?" he asked.
Karen looked at the label, noticed the reference number on it: "It is one of ours! This is a few years old, though - we don't do this style any more. Has it been a good hat?"
He agreed that it had been, and would be for a few more years yet.
Later, we passed Goosy Ganders, and Paul in there was wearing his tweed cap - and that was one of Karen's as well! He told her he loved it and hardly took it off - which is true, because I often see him wearing it around town. The tweed material comes from the island of Harris, which has just voted to become a National Park.
(Buy a tweed cap today - support Karen and the crofters of Harris!)
We had a great time - Karen even sorted out a birthday present for Molly, when Brian came up to us in the street to ask my advice. "Look behind you - this Hay Clinic - you could get a voucher for a facial or something. Go in and ask them!"
We aren't going to wait another 28 years before we meet up again.

Building Work

Spar has closed for a couple of weeks - and they've already ripped out all the shelves. The shop is having a serious re-fit, so it should re-open looking completely different!

Meanwhile, the diggers have moved onto the site of Underhill's garage. The Wye Valley Demolition Company are taking down all the old garage buildings, so it looks as if building work on the "new, exciting development" should finally be going ahead.

And finally, Wool and Willow has a little poster in the window announcing that they are becoming a new craft co-operative - so they should be up and running for the Festival.

A few changes

Mikell, the shop just up from the Limited that sold high class gifty stuff, has now been replaced by Hat to Have It. A hat shop, obviously, though they still have some of the glassware and statuettes that Mikell were selling. They also sell something called 'fascinators', which are not quite hats, but seem to be little confections of feathers and twiddly bits on a comb to fix it to the hair of the wearer.

Up beyond St John's, 'Modern Kate' is staging an exhibition of her paintings. The building is now a private house, but was once the local bookies', and later (surprise, surprise) a book shop. The paintings seem to be sort of abstract landscapes, if that makes sense.

Meanwhile, Sigi is selling up - so there will soon be no more carefully fitted bras in Hay.