Well, I suppose I do have excuses and reasons. For one we have moved house and since January this year we now live in Romiley, which is a nice little place within the boundaries of Stockport, Cheshire but it has its own little village centre and identity. Its only about 20 miles south of Rochdale but a positive quantum leap away from the dire descent of our old neighbourhood....
For all our friends still living in Rochdale please don't take offence, or be hurt, but frankly Rochdale - like many many towns across Britain - has been slowly decaying for a number of years. We lived there for 27 years all told and for the great majority of that time enjoyed the experience. Over the last ten years things got progressively worse in terms of the demise of the town centre - just pawnbrokers and charity shops it seems - even Macdonalds moved out of their town centre premises along with Woolworths (bankrupt) Littlewoods (bankrupt) The Body Shop (couldn't sustain trade economically) British Home Stores (ditto) Burtons (ditto) and several more leading retailers.
Where Bury and Ashton councils capitalised and invested in their town centres, the Rochdale local politicians did little and dallied until things got so bad a point of no return was reached and now I'm not sure things can be salvaged...... It's such a shame for the old town. The recent bad press on sex grooming offences coupled with news reports from the 'poorest ward' in the country, Fallinge, having the most people on welfare doesn't help.
There are 'plans' to revitalise the town centre, open up the River Roch, and develop a cafe style environment along its banks...... but then again that plan has been on the cards for ages and nothing seems to have transpired. Many hopes were raised with the advent of the tram and its connection of Rochdale with the rest of the Greater Manchester network until the blundering nit wits in charge decided to scrap the fast rail link (Rochdale to Manchester in 15 minutes) and replace it with the tram on the 'Oldham Loop' (Rochdale to Manchester in 45 minutes, eh?). They also said the tram would revitalise Drake Street (the old main shopping street of the town) and then 'forgot' and then or rather 'decided' it would be too expensive to have a tram stop on the street.... So everyone (ex-potential customers) can wave as they pass the derelict shops...
So, if all the above, plus other changes are taken into account - by this I mean the difficult subject of the rise of the Islamic power and its influence in the town - suffice to say it saddens and appalls me that since 9/11 things have just got a little out of hand and uncomfortable. Sorry.... I'm a left wing chap (always have been) and not in any way racist. I hate with a passion the BNP and such like, I hate Tories and most politicians of any flavour who have screwed up our beautiful country over the last few decades.
Hate is a strong word but I'll dance on Margaret Thatcher's grave when that the bilge of media nonsense about how great she was will no doubt hit the airwaves when she kicks the bucket.... urgh!.........
So enough politics! Its a big waste of time under its present guise as when times are tough and things go wrong as they are now we all need the help, support and expertise of the teacher, nurse, soldier, policeman etc etc but we NEVER need a politician, do we?..... They are useless!
However, getting off my soapbox, there are also some very practical reasons why we moved!
The old house and workshop were at the top of a hill which meant a car ride to town or to the shops. Here in Romiley I've had a new lease of 'walking life' in that I can now nip up to the post office, grocers, butchers and pub on foot! We have been here nine weeks and I've lost weight and feel much fitter! We have also enjoyed the nest building taking place via the plans we have for new kitchen and decoration in our 'no stairs' (what joy with my knees!) bungalow. The new workshop is brilliant (!) and the new home is just everything we wanted and needed despite a very large amount of building and decorative work to be done! It will be great when its finished.... Did I mention the pub? It's across the road.....
The business, after a very long break, is now back up and running as of last Monday. I've all but completed two jobs off the long backlogged waiting list and looking forward to getting to grips with many more over the coming weeks. No new orders are being taken at the moment which grieves the businessman in me as its like turning down money but its only to be fair to all my customers who have been waiting so patiently over the last few months. I'll be adding some photos of current work and a few shots of the new workshop here... I've still got to replace the windows with laminated (thief proof) glass and put up a few pictures to make it homely but those things can wait. I have three Boeing 737 cabin windows to put in too!! just to reinforce that I haven't lost my quirky ways with the move!
More soon.....
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