There Are Always Changes
Entry posted by caldrail
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How things change. Years ago, in more affluent times, I could drive into town and quickly find a parking space while I popped down to the shops. Pay for a spot in the council car park? I think not.
The situation changed with the resident parking schemes. Fed up with visitors like me clogging up the streets - though in fairness it was the long stay parking of commuters from outside the town who were the worst offenders - Swindon was divided up into zones and if you didn't pay the fee, you got the ticket for parking there.
That was all very well, but what happened shortly after was that council officials sought out every possible non-taxable parking spot and daubed double yellow lines on it, which made it a breach of the law to park there.
Now I see that some local councillors are pressing to create new parking spaces in town. At the moment they're fussing over details of the scheme. Expiry dates, days, times, places, all are being minutely examined for the least possible obstruction to the daily lives of the residents concerned, which I find a bit odd because obstruction to parking is the whole point of the scheme.
Now I Know
I now have proof that wishful thinking can work. The old Mecca bingo hall, previously a cinema, had been abandoned for some time. Passing the premises on a daily basis I often thought it was a waste of a good theatre. If only someone would turn it into a music venue. A proper dedicated music venue, something that Swindon lacks, despite regular big names appearing at the Wyvern Theatre or the Oasis Sports Hall.
To my suprise, someone has done exactly that. Now called Meca, it's going to open as a 2000 seat venue for music. We are most pleased, entrepenours, continue with your decorating.
One of the other changes in Swindon that's been mooted over the years is a pedestrian crossing on Kingshill. Most of you won't know it, but it's the western exit from Old Town and quite a steep road, especially at the top.
Back when I was a schoolkid and took the bus home to Rodbourne, it was a popular form of entertainment for those kids riding bicycles to race the bus down the hill. Time after time one of the 'bad lads' would earn cheers from the top deck as he nervously swept past the bus peddling frantically in the face of commonsense.
One day, we had Animal driving the bus. Now he was cut from a different cloth to most bus drivers. I think he was a frustrated racing driver. At any rate, spotting the youth on a bike preparing for mad dash past the vehicle as it ponderously and noisily wound it's way down the hill, his competitive spirit kicked in. He was not going to beaten. So Animal gunned the throttle and the double decker bus careered down the hill with an astonished bike rider in it's wake.
Hardly a safe thing to do, was it? Well, that was back in the seventies, when such malarkey was common if not officially approved. So now, in our current post-nanny state, we have residents pressing for a crossing along the road, making it safe for children and old people to avoid being mown down by the contestants in the 2010 Double Decker Bus Grand Prix (which of course doesn't happen any more, following the introduction of speed cameras and a nrew hard line attitude from policeman about motoring offences).
I know it's all safer and better for everyone, but in a funny way, I miss the freedom we once had.
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