Shoes & trees

One of the happiest places in Dorchester has to be the skate park! Young people spend hours and hours here enjoying this fabulous facility. Dorchester has a lot of talented young people and some of them are very good at skateboarding! I am always amazed that however busy the park gets, there always seem to be a system for taking turns, and the young people who use it should be given credit for their behaviour, which only ever seems to be fair and good. It seems to be a badge of honour to throw one of your shoes into the trees that overhang the park, I imagine that may not be popular with parents whose children arrive home with one shoe, but the shoetree now marks the site of the skatepark.
There is a business that has been running in Dorchester for many years called Shoetrees!

It is in Trinity Street and is where I go to get my shoes mended and keys cut. They also sell bags and luggage, and have another shop opposite which has more accessories and gifts.

The staff are always cheerful, and give a good service. Dorchester has some very special independant businesses. I took a pair of boots into be repaired this week and they have a sign on their counter saying they are selling eggs! Hens and Ducks! So there is more to Shoetrees than you think!

What a load of rubbish

Never has household waste management become quite so advanced! Today in Dorchester we have received our instruction leaflet for Dorset's new recycling scheme. It is really good to see so much effort is being put into this aspect of our daily living, as we are constantly reminded of the effects that climate change are having on us. My community of housing has opted for a communal waste bin as many of the home owners are apartments, and individual bins are not practical. It appears that we will now be able to recycle a lot more. I have always encouraged my family to recycle, but this scheme I feel will make it more manageable and is to be encouraged! 

Last week  I was visiting my daughter in Birmingham, and we visited the ICC. We stopped for a drink at a Starbucks Cafe, where I was outraged to be given a paper cup. I asked for a china one, as I was drinking it on the premises and it was changed for me. I sat and watched the bins being emptied and all the plastic and paper waste was bagged together. So much waste generated so unnecessarily  was appalling. I understand takeaway coffee is popular but it seemed that convenience seems to be taking presidence over common sense! I checked the Starbucks web site and they claim to be recycling by separating their food waste from their 'mixed dry recyclables', and renouncing all responsiblilty if the premises occupied is rented.

I will support Dorset councils new scheme, but I do feel that even if all of Dorchester residents work hard at recycling their waste it is not going to help our planet if big companies such as Starbucks don't do the same!

link to the ICC

recycle for dorset blog

Sunshine cats & farmers markets

It's a relief for many outdoor traders to finally have a dry sunny day. Today in Dorchester in South St was the farmers market. This is held on the fourth Saturday of every month from 9am until 1pm. It was so sunny in fact that I had to go and give my windows a clean as they looked so very grimy after all the weeks of rain. I am sure, cleaning just a few windows, is what many people who have been affected by the flooding would envy.
I have volunteered to help Cats Protection keep their profile raised on social media. Their shop, which I have mentioned previously is in Great Western Road. There are so many well managed charity shops in Dorchester, but you might miss this one, and that would be unfortunate. Two young cats live with me, Margo & Mitch. They were both rescue kittens. They are not siblings, but were raised in the same litter. Margo was abandoned by her mother after she fell down between a wall and a fence. She was found by an employee at a surf shop in Bournemouth. He contacted Cats protection and little Margo was adopted by Mitch's Mum, along with several other brothers and sisters.
To adopt a kitten from Cats protection you must agree to have them neutered as soon as they are old enough. Many older cats need re-homing for various reasons and this charity works very hard at giving each animal a home suited to it's individual needs.

Farmers market list of traders

Cats protection web page

Cats Protection on Facebook

Cats protection on Twitter

Cats protection on Google+

Eye eye

I have needed to wear glasses since I was about 10 years old. I remember hating my first frames as they were the free National Health ones for children and had curly wire bits that wrapped around your ears. They came only in pink or blue plastic and the only good bit about getting them was choosing the case. I was very excited at the age of about 16 to have the opportunity to try out contact lenses. I was working full time by that age and it was the only thing that I was desperate to buy. I spent a lot of time then involved in sailing, and wearing glasses at sea, means you are constantly cleaning the salt water off of them. Wearing the lenses was an absolute revelation for me and I have been wearing them ever since. 

My first appointment was with I. J Brown in Weymouth, where I was listed as  contact lens customer number 2. I often wondered who number 1 was. I had no reason to change opticians when I moved to Dorchester, as I had only ever received excellent eye care. I transferred to the Dorchester Branch and am now in the good hands of Mr Paul Walllis. It is interesting that this independent optician has been in existence since 1882, I sometimes think that the front door of the Dorchester branch may in fact actually be that old, as it always gets a bit stuck! The brass door knob is always shiny though, and the staff are always extremely attentive. 

Dorchester has many more opticians and I am sure they also offer a great service, in fact the shop where I worked in my twenties Southern Electricity showroom is now a Specsavers. I just have never felt the need to go elsewhere. 

I am now wearing daily bi-focal contact lenses, so I can see clearly in the distance and update this blog without the need for glasses! 

The record player

It seems that teenagers are keen to get their hands on record players and music to play on them. Having dumped my collection of LP records many years ago, it turns out that my sister's collection has been stored safely in my parents loft. My niece who is 14 has desires to listen to the music that her mother played in her youth, and do it authentically, but was without a record player. Whilst most people now listen to downloaded music on miniature devices, the record player is now back in demand. Teenagers will always want to listen to new music, but learning how artists used to record their tracks is a good reminder of how music piracy is now a difficult thing to control.
Today I was pleased to be able to purchase a record player for my niece in the Dorchester Weldmar Hospicecare Trust outlet store. This store, if you have not already discovered it is a fine example of recycling at it's best. It is well run, and always tidy and organised. Shopping there always gives me great pleasure and I like donating  my unwanted items to an important local charity.
My neice was thrilled when I sent her a text to tell her what I had bought! I am not sure what my sister will think when she hears her old music being played again now that she is not the teenager!

Link to Weldmar charity shop

A penny for them

A walk without getting soaked is something I have been longing for this week. Never have I ever seen Dorchester skate park quite so deserted! My walk in the February sunshine took me up High West Street and via Alington Street, where I bought some lunch from Lizzie's sandwich bar. A great place to get a bite to eat and enjoy it in the Borough Gardens if it is dry enough, which was my plan. Another option if you have young children, which I don't any more is to visit Munchkins play cafe in Princes Street. An absolute gem of a location for visiting with toddlers. I would have loved to have taken my children there when they were younger, if only it had been open then!
I was not the only one taking advantage of the sunshine, as the tennis courts were being used and lots of young children were using the playground.

After eating my sandwich I walked down Great Western Road. This is the road that the proposed traffic re-routing scheme will use. It is partly residential with some shops and businesses including a Thai Restaurant.  The Cat's Protection Charity shop window has been very impressively dressed in a Valentines theme, I thought I was in Soho! The lovely bicycle pictured above is in the window of Dorchester Cycles, who stock a big range of bikes and accessories. The improvement to cycle paths in Dorchester is excellent now and even my 79 year old Dad managed to cycle from Weymouth  to Dorchester on an electric bike last year. You can check the traffic free routes on the Sustrans web page which I have linked below.
Another business that has been running for many years is Car Radios (Dorchester) Ltd. I hope the new traffic scheme planners will have empathy with the residents and businesses, and consider carefully both the positive and detrimental affects that may be caused.

Munchkins Play Cafe

Link to Sustrans map

Dorchester Cycles

Going retro

Dorchester has a good selection of vintage shops and very popular retro style cafe. It seems that all those pieces of furniture that were deemed as out of date a few years ago, are in fact extremely popular and fashionable again. I had lunch a few weekends ago in 'Re Loved' a cafe and shop at the end of South Street near the 'town pump'. Here you are treated to a step back in time, with the atmosphere of a past era. You can enjoy and good old fashioned 'cuppa', or a hearty lunch, and you will find it hard to resist the cake! The cafe was full of young people, re-living a time that they would never have of experienced the first time around. The cafe is upstairs and below is a shop stocked full of goodies, and if you are old enough to remember you will spend time reminiscing for sure!
Another shop very near by that sells vintage items is 'Custard Hall' which can be found in the Antelope walk. It is a small shop, but there is plenty to buy. Look upstairs but take care on the spiral staircase!
On the Grove trading estate, there is the 'Dorchester Curiosity Centre' which is an amalgamation of lots of different traders selling everything imaginable! Wrap up in warm clothing if you are going to visit in winter though as it is rather chilly,  there is a cafe inside where you can get a warm drink.
Here is what I last purchased in Custard Hall!

Report from the Echo about 'Re-Loved'

Link to Custard Hall

Link to Dorchester Curiosity Centre