Endangered Tigger

Is that a hint of desperation in Tigger's eye? Has that manic smile a tinge of melancholy behind it? He peers out of the crowded window of a charity shop, fighting for attention with VHS tapes, old cameras, redundant knick knacks and the fruit of the wardrobes of the deceased. Last chance Tigger, trying to catch a child's eye, auditioning for a few more glory days before he's land fill.

For many, many years the one shopping street of this town has been dying. From one end to the other it is now a street of charity shops. For cash strapped bookworms like me they are a rich hunting ground but its a sad prospect from any other point of view. It's largely the recession but it's also the competition from out of town supermarkets etc. and latterly the Internet shopping revolution. I can't say I've been a loyal "local shopper", particularly since I became so housebound, but I do think the community is the poorer for it. Although it reminds me in some ways of watching the tragic economic death of the mining towns of central Scotland in the aftermath of the Miner's Strike there really is no comparison between the desolation that left and the "death by lack of interest" that has happened here.