A SEAT WITH A VIEW (AND A PINK RIBBON) BCAM22

We had a great service at church and then, as Mr. HCB will be watching his team play football later this afternoon, we decided not to go too far to find a Seat With a View.

This one is the part of Swindon called Old Town and is at the junction of Wood Street, Albert Street, Devizes Road, Bath Road and Victoria Road and all the places in my collage today can be seen from the seat.

We parked the car and duly paid our 30p to park for 20 minutes as I was sure that would be enough for me to take photographs.  It so happened that we parked right outside Willoby’s, the furniture shop where I have often got some of my Silly Saturday shots - and Will just happened to be chatting on the phone just inside the window.  I waved to him and pointed my camera, so he kindly struck a pose for me - what a star!

Willoby’s Furniture Company is a family run local business, on the corner of Wood Street and Albert Street, with a wealth of expertise and passion for home interiors and design.  They offer furniture of excellent quality at incredibly competitive prices - and in fact, our sideboard and coffee tables came from there - and their website says they “only provide furniture and accessories we would want in our own homes; well designed, well made, robust, unique and excellent value for money.”  I can honestly say that we have been very well treated every time we have been in there and all the staff are very helpful.

I couldn’t ask Mr. HCB to wear a pink ribbon round his hat again so I had taken a long piece of ribbon with me and tied it to the seat to the amusement of a young couple sitting at a table outside Gusto, a coffee shop in Albert Street.  You can see that he doesn’t look too happy today - although he assured me he was fine and looking at the photograph again, I think perhaps he was cold!  I know I sometimes take advantage of his good nature, and the fact that there were people looking amused just behind him, probably didn’t help.

You will see from the photograph to the left of him that the seat was presented to “The People of Swindon by the Rotarians….to commemorate the Centennial of Rotary International in February 2005.”  Apparently, former champion jockey, Willie Carson, cut the ribbon at the ceremony and the stainless steel seat cost £3,000 to install.  I did know there was a plaque, but never having sat on this seat before, I didn’t know what it said, but I know a lot of people have cause to be thankful to the Rotarians for this lovely seat, although I imagine it could get quite hot in the summertime but Mr. HCB said it felt quite cold today!

Across the road from the seat is Blaylocks of Swindon - a family-run shoe shop since 1920 - it has traded through four generations and is one of the leading independent shoe businesses in the South of England.  We have been visiting Blaylocks for well over 40 years;  I remember taking our older son in there when he was about a year old and when it came to having his feet measured, he screamed the place down.  However, it didn’t seem to faze the lady serving us and as with a small shop, we had excellent service then and still do, whenever we go in there.  Apparently, it was originally established as a shoe repair business in Gorse Hill and they relocated to Old Town in 1928 where the business has developed to its present day success.  This is another shop in Old Town that is built on a foundation of personal service with long established staff, where the aim is, “To sell shoes that don’t come back to customers who do.”  Long may it continue.

I have done several Blips from Leightons, our friendly opticians and again, the service in there is second to none.  Apparently, they have been part of Swindon for over 50 years and I remember going to the business when it was situated in Victoria Road, when our boys were much younger, so we have been associated with them for over 40 years too.  We are treated as valued customers, which of course, we are, having purchased not only our glasses from there over many years, but also Mr. HCB’s hearing aids last year.  I have also taken some of my Silly Saturday Blips in there too and it is always a pleasure to go in there.  In fact, I need to pop in there sometime and see if the coffee machine has been installed yet, after being promised that they would enquire about one after we had a long appointment some months ago.

Ray’s Ice Cream is situated in a shop in Devizes Road, but we have yet to go in there.  However, I hope that will be remedied before too much longer and before the winter sets in!  Again, it is a family-run business in this shop and another in Royal Wootton Bassett.  Apparently, they have over 200 varieties of delicious ice creams, fat free frozen yogurts and sorbets, all home made in their Devizes Road shop.  There were quite a lot of people in there and they all seemed to be enjoying their ice creams - sadly though, we had only paid to park for 20 minutes, so we didn’t have time to try them today.

I did cross the road to take a decent photograph of The Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.  In 1930, Apsley House, which until that time had been a family home, was adapted to house the Museum Collection.  There is an elegant staircase, decorative plasterwork, and several stained glass windows.  This again is a place that I visited with our two sons when they were very much younger in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  They always enjoyed going there and there are some wonderful displays of archaeology, with a splendid collection associated with the Roman settlement at Wanborough, a small village just a few miles outside Swindon and many other interesting places around.  It is hoped that in the next few years, as the New Eastern villages are developed there will be even more to see from the archives.  

The biggest attraction for our sons was the gharial, or crocodile-like reptile and I learned today that the gharial's scientific name, Gavialis gangeticus is based on a misspelling of the Hindi word ghariyal.  I never knew, until I looked at the Swindon Museum website that "this particular exhibit is sometimes known as ‘Apsley, ‘the crocodile’, ‘Georgina’ or ‘Swindon croc’, and was acquired by the Swindon Museum in 1935."  Mr. HCB and I have decided that we need to go into the Museum again sometime to see what has changed over the years and then perhaps visit Ray’s afterwards to have an ice cream.

After I had taken a lot of the photographs, I could see the young lady, called Monsa (I think I have remembered that correctly, but apologise to her if I haven’t) still looking over at us, so I went over to tell her what I was doing.  She said that she did wonder when she saw me tying the pink ribbon into a bow on the seat, so I explained about Blip and gave her one of my cards so that she can have a look for herself.  She and her friend told me that they live in Swindon but are originally from Latvia.  They asked if I lived in Swindon and when I said I did, asked what interesting places were around for them to go to on their bicycles.  We chatted for a while and then I asked if she would let me take her photograph against the hearts on the window of Expressions, the card shop, and she duly obliged.  I said it was a shame she didn’t have a pink anorak, but I was grateful that she allowed me to take a photograph anyway.  What a delightful couple and who knows, we may see them again - I’m just sorry I didn’t give her one of my hearts!

To make sure you can see that this is not only my Seat With a View, but also part of Pinktober, I have edged my collage with pink - and would ask that you please continue to click on this link so that those who cannot afford to pay may have a free mammogram.  I know that many of you have been clicking during the month, so you are all stars!  Thank you.

We don’t meet people
     by accident.
They are meant to 
     cross our path
          for a reason.
Anon