It's always midnight in Stroud

The time on Sim's clock, also known as the four clicks because of its four faces, has been stopped at 12 for a few weeks now. It's disconcerting, to say the least. The Post Office click has also vanished in recent years, and the clock known to show Stroud time ( which used to be behind GMT until the coming of the railways)is now houses in the library, no longer on the street between Oxfam and Subway. Now there's just Mobile Phone Time.

I learned recently that there used to be steps leading down to a public lav located beneath Sim's clock. It adds new meaning to the phrase
'meet you under the clock'.

Since the world's no 1 expert speaker on public conveniences in Tim Mars, I've given this photo a Martian filter! Hello, Tim.... I also wanted to highlight the red of the telephone boxes, both still fully functioning.


I'd wandered into town to get in some healthy food for the new year ( I'm feeling good after a few days off wheat and cheese, but I want to get tested in 2017 to find out what the other culprits are for me. Rye seems ok...) Anyway, I must have have been only half with it after my long spell in bedroom land, because I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye that said something about wash, wax and polish. Next thing, I was asking myself whether a Polish Wax was like a Brazilian?
Ouch.

I managed to change one of my Christmas presents which had, unfortunately, fallen apart on Christmas day! Did some more shopping and headed home. It was dark by then.

My new bedside lamp had arrived, which meant that I had to take almost everything out of the enormous built-in cupboard, because the sockets are in there, too! 1930s houses don't have nearly enough sockets. While I was there, I decobwebbed the space, and sorted out some clothes and shoes for a charity shop trip. I then went downstairs to make a gluten free Cantonese Lemon chicken dish for supper.

While I was cooking, I realised how traditional it is to spend Hogmanay or new year's eve doing a little sorting out of throwing out (the throwing up comes later, LOL)! Also, in the 1980s, in Edinburgh, I'd often go out with friends at this time of year for a Cantonese style Chinese meal, which would invariably include lemon chicken. What are the chances that I would find myself cooking the self same dish for the first time, more than thirty years later, for unconscious Auld Lang Syne?

Happy New Year, to friends both old and new, near and far. Here's to one that may turn out a little less eventful....