The Old Police Station, Stroud

This building, which is much larger than the mere section I have blipped, lies at one of the gateways to Stroud, at the intersection of the main road into town from Cheltenham and Gloucester and Merrywalks, which diverts traffic around the edge of town. I pass it every day on my way to and from work, but the sky was looking too good to ignore any longer!

It has an interesting history, see here, and is no longer used as a police station. Until recently it was a private members' drinking club, but that closed a few years ago, and now part of it is available to let, and the rest is occupied as office space. Being located right on a roundabout, it would be a noisy place to work, I cannot help thinking.

Today is apparently the busiest day of the year for online shopping, what with Christmas coming up! So far I have resisted that temptation, and gone so far as to get a Stroud loyalty card, which will entitle me to discounts or offers in various independent stores in the town. The plan to buy my mother a large book in R & R bookshop, which I blipped in my Jackie blip last week, was thwarted when we realised it would cost as much again to post as it would to buy it! Some of my sisters (I have three) have vowed only to exchange gifts from the 0ne-pound shop. I prefer the charity shops, which I believe don't really exist in the USA, or are not used much if they do. In NZ they seem to be called Op Shops.

I went back to blip some Christmas trees in St Laurence's Christmas tree festival today, but I am still not satisfied with my results. Probably a case of being a child in a sweetshop and not knowing what to choose! Spoiled by colours, textures, and myriad home made decorations with varying degrees of ingenuity.