Not-quite- great Oldbury, Glos

Great Oldbury is a town in the making near Stonehouse, Glos. I went there on the bus to deliver some documents by hand, as they were time-sensitive and the postal service is a bit off at the moment. 

Weather was overcast but still hot. Great Oldbury has houses being built at each end. Some are even finished, but in the middle there is a spine road, a new school, a distant view of hills / the milk and dairy products factory (where Cathedral City cheddar is made!), Some lovely.ponds and reed bed beds, and ....nothing. Guess who got off at the wrong end of the scheme? Guess who walked a mile through the dust to the Stepford houses at the other end? 

Afterwards, I walked to Starbucks because there wasn't a bus for ages, and then back to the bus stop near the house where the documents had been dropped. I became aware that a man in a silver Honda Jazz was peering at the me intently as I stood at the bus stop. It definitely was not CleanSteve, even though we have just bought a silver Honda Jazz. Eventually the man got out. I recognised him as the man I had interviewed on Tuesday at work, whose forms I had attempted to fill in, before dropping them back at his house. English is not his first language. I attpted to explain that his medical forms were not yet "finished" and that he needed to take them to the refugee association in Gloucester because they were used to filling them in, whereas I am not . 
"I will go there today" he said. 
"Today, closed" I replied. "Go tomorrow".

Fortunately I had already explained all of this by phone to his son, who has a good command of English. After that difficult chat, we discussed the Honda Jazz. The whole world seems to have gone Jazz-crazy right now. All owners seem delighted with them.

 I caught the bus back to Stonehouse, did some charity shopping, bussed back to Stroud, did some shopping because I had to waste a bit more time, bussed  home, walked up the hill to our house, and had a rest and an ice cream.

The last Buddhist meditation session until September was held in the evening. I'm going to miss them, and Bob the Fascist, whom I shall now rename Dharma Bob, because he isn't a fascist at all. (24 years ago, he and I were in a way called No Pasaran, about that Spanish Civil War. He played a fascist and I a survivor of the bombings at Guernica). 

I hope to revisit Great Oldbury in about five years'  time. As my sister TmMLHereandThere's boss in Bahrain used to say, "it'll be very nice when it's finished". In the meantime, I am happy to lead bus tours into the interior.