A timetabling quirk means that, if I need a very quick trip into town, I can jump on the bus, hurry along to whatever shop is my goal and get back to the bus stop before the driver sets off again. Obviously the success of this mad dash is dependent on the bus being on time and the shop being relatively empty, but there is another factor: visitors.
Oh, visitors! How we love them. They clutter up the pavement, standing around in groups exclaiming at shop windows as if they’d never seen retail merchandise attractively displayed before. And then they can’t seem to decide whether or not to enter this palace of delights, despite all their oohs and aahs. Haven’t they come across doors where they come from?
If that isn’t bad enough, they seem to be permanently lost. They wander around in a state of enduring disorientation, as if they were negotiating a souk in Marrakech rather than a very small town with only a couple of main streets. “Have we been up here?” they ask each other, peering at their town plans. “Where are we now?”
“I could tell you where you are, you’re in my way,” I growl (but only in my head). And there’s another thing. Even if they appear to know where they’re going, they only have two speeds: slow and deadly slow. I can hardly count the number of times I’ve stepped into the road to get past them and nearly been mown down by the silent approach of an electric vehicle.
But hang on a minute. What am I saying? Do I really wish our streets were empty so I could hurry unhindered to any shop I liked? No, of course not! For, without visitors, we wouldn’t have a fraction of the thriving shops, pubs and cafes we enjoy at present. Our High Street would decline in the way of so many others, with boarded-up properties, more nail bars than could possibly be needed and a general air of depression that certainly is not the case at present. Visitors keep all this going; visitors are our lifeblood.
So what will happen if I miss my bus back? I’ll walk home, or better still I’ll get the next one and, while I wait, I’ll go for a nice slow wander along the High Street and indulge in a little window shopping.
Image Credits: Heidi Foster .