'Some Nostalgic Thoughts'

As I have been 'laid up' for three days now with a cold I have had plenty of time to think and that is both good and bad (as we all know). I've managed to do most of my Christmas shopping this year now and have done most of it online. It pains me to do that really but I went into Hastings town centre the other week with a voucher to spend and a specific thing in mind I wanted to spend it on. After visiting, H.M.V., W H Smiths, Argos and one or two others, however I could not find anyone who stocked what I was after! Walking around the town 'with a purpose' and visiting REAL shops and seeing and touching REAL items felt really good and I got much more of the sense of Christmas but at the end of the day I came home empty handed...

It's such a shame how our High Streets are 'falling away' everywhere and Christmas loses some of its magic when you 'shop' in front of your computer screen but the decline in the amount of retail outlets and the fact that you CAN get pretty much anything that is generally available anywhere online means that it is now very hard to support local traders. It's not so bad if you are looking for something in the arts & crafts line as Hastings (The Old Town especially) is GREAT for that kind of thing but other than food or other perishables these days it is so much easier to find what you want online...

I do miss the sense of excitement, the festive atmosphere and the sign of the streets PACKED with shoppers all carrying carrier bags at this time of year though. Stress might have been a factor for a lot of the people shopping back then but the sights and sounds of Christmas used to be EVERYWHERE! Kings Rd in St Leonards was such an exciting place to be when I was a kid at Christmas time and all of the shops (both big and small) went to a lot of trouble to try and attract customers and every shop you visited would be laden with tinsel! There used to be carol singers in the streets at certain times and the 'Sally Army'  would turn up and play as well - Christmas shopping was a social thing but it was also something that could be enjoyed - especially when you got a thrill finding that 'something special you didn't know about' for someone. These days that rarely, if ever happens as its almost impossible to NOT KNOW about something due to either the 'bot' on Google or Facebook working out what you like and 'throwing' the right ads your way...

I guess that's not all a bad thing and I have bought items that I 'seriously wanted but would probably never have known about otherwise' because of those ads but its rather like winning the lottery and being able to buy anything you want to - without the thrill of the chase or discovery somehow it doesn't mean as much, you know?

The other thing I have been 'nostalgic' about recently is a wage packet! (lol) It will be a DECADE next year since I got paid a wage (other than my once yearly 'collecting' pot!) and I certainly miss the freedom my festive wages at Mason's Music used to give me to enjoy Christmas! My old boss, was a real 'good un' and he always treated us very well at Christmas with a cash bonus, a present AND a 'meal out on the firm'. We used to have to work like galley slaves for about a month though up until the Christmas break because the orders just kept piling in! I used to get a perverse delight at counting how many orders behind we were on the boss's desk - much to his and the rest of the staff's irritation - but only really because it used to spur me on to keep going when I was pretty knackered! I've always been one for a 'lost cause' (hence 'The Clean Up Man') and somehow taking on the world and  STILL winning has always motivated me.

Sadly, the business I used to work for itself has now closed (another victim of the Internet age) but I do still see my old boss occasionally, which is nice...

Oh well, who knows what 2019 will bring? I don't hold out much hope for a return to earning cash nor can I honestly say that I think it will be a good year but you HAVE to live in hope, don't you?

If you have any thoughts about 'the old days of Christmas High Street shopping' do share them with me. They say nostalgia is all you have as you get older so it would be good for both of us to know that there's 'someone else out there' who understands! (lol)

'Less Than A Month!'

I am working hard to try and get prepared and organised for Christmas in good time this year after a couple of 'debacles' the last two years. When you fail to sort things out before the word 'December' hits the calendar you are on a very slippery slope! By GUM the time flies away from you at that point and as you become too stressed to enjoy anything you miss out on the magic of the run up to Christmas and how that can make you feel...

When you are organised, have written all your cards, sent all the overseas ones, written all of the letters to go inside them AND have sorted and wrapped up all of your presents though you can just relax and soak up the festive atmosphere. The  Christmas lights have now been switched on in Battle and there is no better a place to go - especially when its getting dark to feel the 'Disney' kind of vibe that Christmas evokes. The sight of Battle Abbey all lit up and of the tiny Christmas trees that usually hang out from above shop fronts around the Market Square is amazing and as there are also plenty of public benches to sit on in the square you can simply relax, be merry and think of favourite memories or of 'the things to come' this year.

I am soon to be 'off on my travels' back to Grassington and the Dickensian Festival there. It should be fun but I reckon this year its going to be much colder and probably damper up in Yorkshire than last year. I'm going to try and fit in all of the things I missed last year (including a trip to the little museum there) AND make the time to go and have a pint in the quaint little Pub there. Hopefully, the trip will live up to my expectations but its always a risk 'going back' to somewhere in consecutive years because if its not so good the second time you kind of spoil your overall memories of the place, you know?

I had a 'traditional taste' of High Street shopping yesterday in Hastings. It brought home to me just why most of us shop online these days because, try as hard as I might to support the High Street, I could not find the item I wanted to buy anywhere in Hastings. Every shop I went to that I thought would have it did not and in the end that is what you are up against. Time is of 'the essence' to most people these days what with 'flexible' working hours and so the average person needs to be able to find what they want quickly. Mind you, It did bring back lots of happy memories of shopping back in the 1980's when we would all be seen carrying a plethora of carrier bag fulls of stuff in town on a Saturday or at Christmas time. I used to love looking at people struggling with all their bags and  wonder who they were buying the stuff for? The snag with all kinds of shopping is that the more a person looks  - the more they buy and usually for themselves! (lol) We all know what WE want but struggle to find presents and so for every £1 you spend on someone else you are likely to spend twice that on yourself! (lol)

I did get some LOVELY Christmassy enamel badges (you can see a few of them here) though from one of the St Michael's Hospice charity shops. All of the money raised goes to help the hospice and so I couldn't resist - especially as the designs are so cute and festive. In my situation I shouldn't really be 'handing out money' but Christmas is all about 'good will to all men' (I do feel sorry for women on this occasion!) and the hospice do such fantastic work.

Finally, I managed to get a glimpse of the fabulous old Steam Train that visited Hastings Station yesterday afternoon at around 3pm. While the weather was rotten and it was raining looking down on the train from the bridge in Linton Rd was a lovely, nostalgic and emotive experience. There was quite a crowd with me, which was nice to see, and we all 'oohed and aahed' when 'the old girl' fired up and pulled away in clouds of steam towards us and we heard that (once) familiar chugging sound as she picked up speed. It was only a Steam Train but it brought back so many wonderful memories for me of my Nan and Grandad, Fish N' Chip suppers and sitting on the bridge watching the trains in their old Austin A40. Whenever a Steam Train came in or went out of Hastings Station I used to delight in getting enveloped in the smoke as it went under the bridge and would then rush over to the other side of the road to watch it gradually disappear into the tunnel. I did most of that yesterday (couldn't get really into the smoke due to the crowd) and so for me that train yesterday was like catching a glimpse of the Polar Express...

You can see a video of the Steam Train on my Youtube channel, Maybrick44. Sadly, we are not allowed to include links here anymore but if you type in 'Steam Returns To Hastings' and Maybrick44 into your browsers you should find it o.k.

Love Tony xx