This was shouted out as I wandered up the old High Street, past the town hall, with the intention of going on home …
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| Eastbourne Town Hall - top of Grove Road (which was the main high street) |
… but the junction by the town hall is a miss-mash (or mish-mash!): two one-way streets, one which bifurcates as it reaches the town hall, opposite a two-way street, just round the corner another road that comes in …
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| My mish-mash junction ... I was walking past The Grove Experience (not sure what that is!) on the Town Hall side of the road ... and walking on up past the Church (see next image for the actual junction) |
… so car drivers also don’t always know where to go … but the shout-out … took me a while to realise it was, more than once, addressed to me!
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| Town Hall on left as you look at the image - and I was on the pavement outside the town hall - not quite visible in the photo ... but the bifurcated bit of the road in front of the town hall is - where this electric was ... |
I’d forgotten my bus pass and was wandering home and had decided to walk up on the other side of the road … knowing that ‘this junction’ might make me wait around for a few seconds – but to be ‘accosted (by shouting)’ don’t walk in the roadtook me by surprise – yes I was in the bifurcated part of Grove Road …
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| Eastbourne Town Hall - built 1883 |
… but hadn’t heard a car coming up behind me, to then realise it was an electric one … as I was happily about the cross over to the middle of the road – so I stepped back onto the pavement.
I tried again … unusually! traffic in all directions – so kept stepping back …
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| Lewis Carroll's illustration for the old man standing on his head |
… the chap sitting on the town hall steps was now quite anxious – calling out did I need help to cross the road ………… by then I was laughing to myself.
But knew that he was being very thoughtful and was obviously concerned I was a completely incompetent old lady … so I did turn back to him and say … I’m fine thank you.The junction isn’t that easy – but it’s unusual to get held up … yet one needs to be aware of the various directions traffic could come at you from.
I was on the bifurcated bit … and quite often it’s ignored by drivers: they get to the junction without using the bifurcation – which surprises pedestrians, who don’t expect to be accosted by a motorised vehicle turning right into their path.
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| Tenniel's illustration for 'turning a somersault in at the door' |
I should think I’ve lost you with my descriptions … blame it on old woman blogger syndrome!
I’m pretty road savvy and spatially aware … so was bemused to be ‘ticked off’ by a chap sitting on the cold town hall steps. I might say he was there the next day – then I was in the bus … so in no danger of causing him anxiety!
Obviously I need to take heed … to others:
"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
What made you so awfully clever?"
I think I need to pay attention to the first verse … where the old man stands on his head … my lack of hair might not show quite so much …
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| Another of Tenniel's illustrations - thankfully I am not like that! |
… and the third verse … my word for the year (not attributed to me!) is waistline … needs to be found – I am not, as the stanza says, ‘uncommonly fat’ … but a little reduction would help!
Well that’s enough waffle for me … setting the tone for Monday’s post … with the very appropriate poem by Lewis Carroll: “You AreOld, Father William” … or … You Are Getting Older, Blogger Hilary …
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
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