Chelmsford High Street

Beautiful sunny January days should not be spent at home so, after briefly tutoring online and other 'at home' pastimes,  I went in to town this afternoon for the second day in a row. I was, to be honest, quite surprised at how comparatively quiet it was for a Saturday afternoon. When I lived here 25+ (ouch) years ago it would have been heaving - but I guess habits and trends have changed.  My memories of this High Street as a child (only  pedestrianised in 1991) are of fractious Saturday afternoons with mum and dad and baby bro, where driving in to town to find parking was a bumper to bumper nightmare and the High Street full of shoppers spilling in to the road (extra) made shopping both exciting and dreadful.  No out of town hypermarkets, we went to the butchers, bakers, grocers, fishmongers and the local supermarket (now a charity shop and tiny in comparison to current Tescos, Sainsburys, Asdas) for everything else. Today I was sad to see several abandoned shut up shops, including Debenhams, as retailers move out of the town centre and homeless people sadly move in, making shelter in the doorways. Yes I know that shopping trends have changed. Now we go to retail parks, or buy on line.  Nevertheless, some shops are holding on, and the home produce, flower and vegetable stalls that have sprung up in the middle of the paved High St is a splendid example of the survival of the heart of a town. Chelmsford is, after all, the county town of Essex. In fact, it was awarded city status in 2012 as part of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Not sure if today's nostalgic rant lecture was generated by the High St that I walked down and the memories it generated or the melancholy memory lane I wandered later when I got home and worked my way through yet another very large box of family memorabilia collated by Dad. I am trying to reduce how much stuff there is - some memories to treasure, others not so much. 

Extra: Chelmsford High St 1960's (almost the same spot as today)