Funny old World returns
MORE than five years after my last column before retirement it’s an even funnier world now as we near D day on the B word.
However, as the wife told her husband who returned from shopping for a festive buffet with cheese straws rather than what was on his list: “Bread sticks means bread sticks!”
One has to sympathise with Theresa May for inheriting a decision she did not agree with but trying to make it happen and now, as others have said, she could be a contestant on the next series of “Deal Or No Deal”!
Personally though other TV shows might be apt. She postponed a vote on the Chequers package as it was “Pointless” because she knew what the outcome would be. The PM then tried to “Only Connect” with Euro partners but they were playing “Hardball” with her bid for something “Tenable” and it seems her hopes of success are “Impossible”.
She could always “Escape To The Country”!
Arrival aptness Taking down the Christmas cards I received, on Twelfth Night, I wondered what the most popular theme was.
Robins have always figured highly in previous years, a throwback possibly to the times I charted the fortunes or should that be misfortunes of Hinckley Athletic FC but they only made second place in 2018, joint runners-up with Christmas trees on seven cards or each only a tenth of the total.
The winner last year was nativity scenes on nine cards, rising to 12 if you include just the three Magi. However the birth of our lord and saviour is something worth celebrating at any time and very apt for the season.
Did you notice a prevalent theme on the cards you received and if so was there any evidence the senders had chosen them personally for you?
Opportunity Oops An opportunity to mark a small part of Earl Shilton’s industrial heritage has been lost.
The Veldetta factory off Keats Lane was dwarfed by neighbouring Argee and one or two more at a time when footwear and hosiery made the road a hub providing employment for hundreds but it played its part and is probably remembered fondly by many.
So it was a good idea to honour its name when it was demolished and replaced by a development of five homes. Sadly though it has ended up being called Valdetta Court and now a little part of the town’s history has gone and will be forgotten.
Return regretted During a quiet festive break with my brother and sister in law we decided to visit Loughborough, a town where we had all lived and have happy memories of but none of us had been to for some years.
What a disappointment if not let down! We started with a walk through Queens Park, home of the carillon, where we had each spent many happy hours but is now an apparent victim of council cutbacks – no winter planting to give colour, leaves left ungathered and the grass itself mud patches in places. The only saving grace was in the aviary where a parakeet gave regular and very amusing impersonations of a mobile phone ringing. Next it was into the town centre, once a bustling hive of various stores and shops with a thriving market but now rows of empty properties with a generally run down feeling. All High Streets have suffered nationally and nowhere is exempt including our own but Hinckley is a king compared to what we saw and decided one should never go back but remember as they were.