Last Chance To See Bridgend Town's Main Post Office Plus Other Town/Book News

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday then I did something probably for the last time. I went to Bridgend Town's Main Post Office to get the car tax sorted before it's closed down and moved to the basement floor of the nearby W H Smith in February next year.

I've mentioned before that although the closure of standalone main Post Offices is a UK policy I believe that the Labour party, whether in the assembly or the council, have made the job easier because of their negligence/incompetence in the running the town which essentially has run it down thus not attracting people to it with a consequent loss of business.

To put insult to injury I also mentioned that a MERRY CHRISTMAS sign was put up outside the building by the council as part of the general town centre decorations. The Labour people here can be so crass.

Before I continue to chat about the Post Office and as I did refer to the town centre decorations this is apparently the Christmas tree nearby.

Is that all there is?

Hope there are more decorations to come. It looks like was just plonked in the first available space and then had the lights thrown at it.

And there's another vacant lot I've noticed since my last visit.

A Children's/Ladies Clothes Store 

But at least the Labour council aren't scrimping on Christmas decorations....priorities you see.

Back to the Post Office. Went inside and paid off the car tax. I remarked the move to the guy behind the counter and he confirmed that they would be going to the basement floor of the local W H Smith (which I'll chat about later). When I stated that would mean less space he agreed.

In the future this will be a historical picture of how things used to be

Paid the car tax and walked out. Probably for the last time.

In the local Welsh Ambulance charity shop I was pleased to able to buy two pre ISBN Penguins costing 99p each (remaining budget now until Monday 17p). The bad news was that it was both by John Galsworthy, a writer I don't like on the purely technical grounds that he's rubbish.

831 - John Galsworthy - The Man of Property

2653 - John Galsworthy - To Let

Before leaving the town I went to the local W H Smith to have a look at the Post Office's new home. Here is the basement :

Not exactly welcoming

And of course not only will the Post Office lose space but so will W H Smith. The basement stuff here that won't be flogged off at discounted rates will be moved to the ground floor so that they'll be less space for (for example) books. To be honest though my love for W H Smith has weakened through the years. It's branch in Ilford Essex played a big part in my reading education as a child in the seventies. But now it seems to be some sort of bazaar flogging off anything it can. Yesterday I even noticed e cigs behind the counter!

Have finished the ebook My Dining Hell by Jay Rayner. A collection of restaurant reviews he's done through the years. It was admittedly a book only bought to finish off an Amazon voucher. But I enjoyed it.

Can't say I'm a great restaurant visitor. In recent years money, or the lack of it when I was unemployed,was a factor. Nowadays it's just a matter of, dare I say it, taste.

The restaurant critic I would argue has an advantage on other critics in that for the normal reader a bad review would confirm his/her prejudices about restaurants. And when I'm talking restaurants I mean the sort where the food is placed artistically on the plate and where the menu is apparently written by a Booker prize winner.

For the most part this is the sort of pretentious place that is attacked here and entertainingly so. I'm sure Jay Rayner written forests (and now electronic forests) of reviews where praising restaurants to the hilt but let's face it, for the average reader My Dining Heaven wouldn't be as interesting and he knows it.

He gives McDonalds a bad review. I'm slightly more enthusiastic about it than him. It reminds me of the sort of bestseller book you enjoyed at the time but forget soon after (Dick Francis comes to mind) and I prefer McDonalds to Burger King where you have a race to finish the burger before the bap dissolves in your hands.

I wondered also what he felt of Nandos. My personal view being that it was ponced up KFC. Got to google and find that out.

Anyway I do recommend it. The next book on the great ebook unread is The Call Of The Wild by Jack London. The sort  of classic you've been meaning to read for years but life interfered. Now's my chance.

Until the next time.