Crossroads

At the heart of Twyford there is the crossroads. Not designed in a way that facilitates motorised transport. Controlled by traffic lights only one road is open at a time, and the road leading off to the left just out of this panorama is quite narrow, so waiting traffic is quite a way back from the crossroads itself. The road in front is the Old Bath Road, and was the original sheep drovers road I imagine. The new road is a mile or so to the north of the village.

When I arrived in Twyford some years back there were four antique shops, now there are none. One of them was in the building which is now Costa. After the antique shop move out it became a shop selling light fittings. A few months ago this moved out and Costa moved in.

I am not sure the arrival of Costa is a good move, the village already has an independent coffee shop, just across the road and just behind me as I took this shot. I hope the arrival of Costa does not have the effect of putting the independent out of business.

When I went for a coffee this morning I made a point of going to the independent. It seemed to be quite busy, so maybe it will withstand the competition. I must admit I usually go to Waitrose, but the coffee machine was out of order this morning.

My life still has the backdrop of the sound of a drip landing in the basin every few seconds. Maybe the drips are slightly less frequent than this time yesterday, though at the moment I am not very sure about that.