I had an excellent experience with the Christian men’s group in Frome today, more to come in another newsletter. I must say the quality of males in such groups is in another league from the type of people I find in Midsomer. I’m not saying that they don’t exist, it’s just that I have not found them yet in a group and certainly not in a Christian group.

a prisoner

Church groups consists mainly of ladies of a certain age and sometimes more, blue rinse ladies, who are dear sweet people but don’t have the view on life, anywhere near, that I do. There are one or two conservative males holding the fort and normally in positions of responsibility but they also are very conservative and I need people who think outside the box aka mental prison. .

We decided to go to Wells and the enhanced market, the so called City Christmas Market. Sure enough the crowds were there in abundance and it became almost uncomfortable especially as Francoise has to move with the aid of two crutches. The prognosis for her twisted knee is that it will take between six and eight weeks to heal but meanwhile it is very uncomfortable and does restrict her movement. Our physical range of activity is limited accordingly.

Anyway we set off by car and were very lucky to find a parking spot that had just been vacated. On such a day, don’t even think of going to the main car park because they will all be full as indeed turned out to be the case.

We wandered or should I say negotiated our way around the town and ended up at a shop near the Organic Food Shop.It is always sad to see shops of this nature –  artisan shops, closing for business. It is I suspect because the right people who care for what they’re doing are no longer to be found because everyone is too stressed out and looking after their own interests.

In our High Street in Midsomer we have 5 charity shops. This happened mostly in the 12 years that we have been living in the locality.

When I pass food and service shops during opening hours I see no one there and how desperate it must be to open the shop, stay there waiting for eight hours, and have one or two people come in and perhaps not even buy anything.

Do this five or six times a week so just imagine the effect on one’s morale. Added to that we now have new charging car parking coming into operation in the new year where only two free hours are allowed and the rest has to be paid for and this will certainly be a problem for those who come to charity shops and volunteers their services. It is not a question of jumping on a bus instead because many of the smaller villages outside our area are not reachable by bus for example Coleford.

I fear there will be a reduction in volunteers but it’s reason. The government, even the local Bath Council, seem to be deaf to all cries. Surely they’re not going to make that much money and this must be balanced by a loss to the community of the facilities of shopping and the provisional services.

Anyway coming back to Wells. I found the note on the window which says that the business is closing, though it was doing fairly well. The owner is retiring and no one else can be found to take it over.

In other instances a shop may have been running at a loss Business rates have to be paid unless your rateable value of the property is very low Most people have to find a few tens of thousands before they can start to pay their rent, their gas and electricity, salaries, and then not to mention the cost of the products that they are selling. So the lights go out one by one.

The same can be said of human souls. Each and every person who gives up to fear and indeed on life reduces the happy spirit of an area – and across the converse is true. The atmosphere among the crowds was good and I made my usual number of jokes to people. There was a man pushing a pram containing a dog and also mistletoe and I asked him if the dog needed to be kissed bearing in mind the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe and he smiled and said he would not recommend it.

That was the usual overcharging. In the market we had a crepe with garlic, I think it was powdered, and lemon and it was,  well, all right for what it was. I did note that it was prepared carefully and indeed lovingly. I also saw a stall selling bits of tiramisu. A large portion was £13.50  and a small bit was £3.50 which they said they’d let me have for £3. That was certainly a step in the right direction because it was the size of two matchboxes, maybe four mouthfuls. Not really very good value for money.

Anyway overall a good time was had by everybody. There was lots of music in the background from various bands and groups.