Sufferin' City

I had the misfortune of having to go to the City Centre today. Fortunately, its a very infrequent occurrence. One of the first things that struck me was the fact that every few yards the pavement seemed to be decorated by the dried remains of the contents of people's stomachs. The next thing that struck me was that this wasn't surprising, because although this was still fairly early in the morning everywhere seemed to be choked with an awful, unhealthy, greasy smell that seemed to be emanating from a multitude of fast food 'restaurants', and similar establishments that already began to make my own stomach begin to turn queasy without even consuming any of their products. What made the queasiness worse was that the other thing that I became aware of was the fact of seeming to be enveloped in a constant background din.

It certainly didn't seem to measure up to the picture of culture and sophistication that various adverstisements present as being the attraction of City living. Even inside the Co-op Bank, there was playing some mind-numbing music that seemed as though it would have been more appropriate as an accompinent to a ride on the waltzers! No wonder so many people nowadays suffer from stress and other such disorders if this is the environment they have to contend with.

But, the other thing that struck me, considering all the stories in the press about stores closing etc., was the number of shops, for which my main question, in which my wife concurred was - "How did the shops ever get started, or make a profit in the first place!" How many fast food shops do you actually need in such a small area? Then interspersed with the fast food shops, were what appeared to be an ever greater number of bars, or nightclubs. It seemed like definite overkill.

In fact, the main shops that seemed to have a workable business plan were the Charity Shops. Inside they seemed to be selling all the same crap - minus the fast food and booze - as all the other shops, but with the difference that they'd had it given to them, and probably got a rebate on the Rent, and Rates for the shop.

No wonder so many people are switching to shopping online.