Chance would be a fine thing

I noticed a sign today as I was walking back from the Kings Head to For The Love Of Dog. In a town where the car is king and pedestrians are the bottom of the food chain, it looked quite optimistic, to say the least.

The ironic thing is that, in most towns, the sign would be the other side of a pedestrian crossing but, of course, Lymington doesn’t have any of those.

The reason I was heading to For The Love Of Dog was because I’d dropped the girls off for a much-needed grooming. The last time they were shorn was back in June last year. Normally they get groomed every ten weeks but, with the freezing conditions in Sweden, we figured they’d be happier keeping their hair.

But, as the weather warms here in the UK, we thought it was time to reveal the gorgeous dogs beneath the scruffiness.

Having walked down to the trading estate yesterday, I set off with plenty of time in my pocket and without much of a spring in my step. The lack of a spring was mostly because I knew I’d have to put up with lots of noisy, smelly traffic and a complete lack of safe crossing spots.

I’m sorry to keep banging on about it, but how on earth can a big town with lots of traffic have no pedestrian crossings? Is it a lack of white paint? Surely it can’t be because whoever is responsible wants less footfall and more constantly moving tyres.

At one point today, I was trying to cross the high street along with another couple of pedestrians. There’s a sort of pinch spot at the top of the high street that seems to indicate it’s somewhere that people can cross. But, of course, there’s no painted crossing, so the cars just keep driving and we just stood waiting. I really don’t get it.

Anyway, something I did get was an excellent lunch at the Kings Head pub which is at the top of the very small pedestrianised section of the high street which seems to head down to the quay. I’ve yet to explore that bit of the town.

I had 90 minutes to kill, so I popped into the King’s Head for a bit of libation. And granary sandwich. All excellent. The pub, the beer, the food, the staff. I had a jolly good read while I waited.

There was a surprisingly large number of people in the pub with me. Okay, the photo makes it look empty, and it sort of was when I took it. However, not long after, two sizeable groups of people came in for lunch. They sat over by the fire which was lit, though it doesn’t look it in the photo.

The reason I was on my own was because Mirinda went to Chawton House Library for Book Group today. She’s been attending online while we’ve been in Sweden, so it was a great joy for her to return to the library live again.

This month they were discussing a weekly periodical, written by Jane’s brother, James Austen. It was called The Loiterer and, if someone wanted to, it can be read here. Thanks to Sophie who very helpfully has put it online.

While she was over that way, Mirinda popped into Alton to check it out for possible future living. She said it was much better than Lymington given that the traffic noise and general pollution stench was much reduced. She didn’t mention if there were any pedestrian crossings, but she did say the traffic was a lot less in the high street.

Lunch over, I headed back to pick up the girls, dodging cars, trucks and the occasional bus to do so. And they looked gorgeous – the girls I mean, not the traffic. The two women who run the salon said they were good as gold and seemed delighted with their new ‘dos’. I don’t know about them, but I certainly was. I particularly liked Emma’s ears and the pom poms on their tails.

Now, of course, the shivering starts.

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