Aug 24th, 2010 by Bill Duckhouse
Now then, when Andy asked me to help with his new blog I intially assumed, what with me being a pillar of the community and everything, that he would want me to chair the Richmond Blogged executive management admininstration facilitation committee helping him make the big decisions but he said no, just flippin’ write something Bill, thrust an old fag packet with a password written on it into my hands and went off to the pub and I didn’t even have time to ask him if there would be any biscuits.
I couldn’t pass up the chance to help my local community of course. Being on the council is like being Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception; We are in the business of creating dreams, although some might think it is more like being Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, but that is just being unrealistic. This seemed a good chance to answer my constituents questions without actually having to meet them so what I’ll be doing is taking a letter from my postbag each week, or the letter from my postbag each week, and answering the issues online live here on the interblog where both of the people in Richmond close enough to the telephone exchange to have a fast enough connection to read the blog can see it. So, let’s just open this one here…
Dear Bill, what is the purpose of the green flag in Friary Gardens which always seems to be in a furled position so its design or logo remains a mystery?
I was in Friary Gardens just today in fact. I took my nephew to see the doctor about a rugby injury at the Friary Surgery. They refused to give him an injury though, apparently NICE has out a stop on this service until the Bath thing dies down, but cuts in local NHS sevices are for another post, so to answer the question the flag is Friary Gardens’ safe beach ocean bathing award 2009, although the 2009 has been painted over in case people think it doesn’t apply any more and should probably be taken down now. In case people think this is just another award that is nice for the local authority to boast about but not terribly relevant to the real life of Richmond, and perhaps awarded by people not in possession of all the information they should be I am very proud that Friary Gardens got this award for having the second lowest level of shark attacks in the whole country, although why there is never any wind in Friary Gardens to unfurl things a bit more is a mystery to me too; perhaps they should move the flag to outside the town hall.
Anyway, thanks for visiting Richmond Blogged. it’s a marvellous idea to get different people to post on here so please support it. You don’t even have to be pillar of the community, I mean even Andy has written articles on here! Bye for now.
Posted in General | 3 Comments »
Aug 14th, 2010 by Lilly Potts
I wouldn’t regard myself as superstitious, however, I do seem to make a mental note when I see a Friday 13th looming up on the calendar. And although I’m not superstitious I was quite pleased that the weather put paid to a road trip planned for yesterday.
Instead I decided to visit my mate Andrea who lives the other side of Richmond (walking distance) for a coffee and a bit of a gossip. Andrea has just got herself an adorable little puppy, a gorgeous little chocolate lab called Candy who enjoys the full attention of anyone who visits.
We put the kettle on and sat down at the kitchen table, ignored the dog and nattered away as I kicked off my shoes… Well you’ll see from the photo what happened next. My bestest, most favourite, most comfortable shoes, ruined!! I could have cried (in fact I did).
Andrea was mortified and immediately offered to replace them – I didn’t argue. I’d bought the shoes from a lovely little shoe shop on Finkle Street a couple of years ago, so suggested to Andrea that we pop along to the shop straight away.
Well it turns out that Friday 13th is actually my lucky day, not only did they have the exact same shoes still, they had them in my size and luckily for Andrea they were in their sale!
Thanks Andrea and thanks Candy (every girl loves new shoes!). I’m now looking forward to the next Friday 13th to see what that brings.
Tags: Finkle Street, Friday 13th, Lilly, Richmond, shoe shop
Posted in General | 4 Comments »
Jul 28th, 2010 by Lilly Potts
I was lucky enough to be asked out for dinner last night, Charlie said he fancied trying out the new Italian and would I like to go with him. After checking he didn’t mean on a date (Charlie’s nice but… well, you know!) I said I’d love to.
There seems to have been a lot of excitement about the new Italian opening last week, apparently they have been so busy that Rustique have ended up picking up their overflow. Forewarned, Charlie booked (though I’m sure I overheard him say something about a cosy table for two…).
I have to say it does look nice from the outside, a far cry from the run down old garage that it was, so I was quite excited about the prospect. When we got there I was delighted to see there was not a cosy table for two in sight, more your fast food diner style, great for a noisy hen night or somewhere to take the kids where you wouldn’t feel embarrassed if they played up or spilt their drink.
I ordered the traditional Italian Lasagne (can’t go wrong there) whilst Charlie chose one of the vegetarian pasta meals (I never did see him as a meat and two veg man). Totally uninspired by my meal I skipped pudding and Charlie asked for the bill which came presented with two jelly beans – I left mine in lieu of a tip.
Thanks Charlie, a lovely thought, but I wish you hadn’t booked, we could have ended up at Rustique instead!
Tags: food, Italian restaurant, Lilly, Richmond, Rustique
Posted in General | 12 Comments »
Jul 27th, 2010 by Lilly Potts
Well I thought it would be a great idea to have a Richmond Blog and was quite excited when I found out I could be part of it. I thought I’d have loads to say about beautiful Richmond and mulled over all sorts of little ideas about what to write about. But then something awful happened when I logged on recently and saw that nasty photo of the dog poo!
I felt an urgent desire to write something quick just to get that photo off the top of the page, and that is where my problem started, I racked my brains to think of something interesting to say but the harder I thought the more inane my thoughts became.
So sod it, I have nothing interesting to say at the moment, except that Richmond isn’t all about dog poo and fag ends – it’s beautiful and peaceful and perfect, and I love living here!
Tags: dog poo, Lilly, Richmond
Posted in General | 6 Comments »
Reading through some of the new activity on the Richmond Online Facebook Page, I notice the Council are having a blitz on people dropping fag ends. Whilst I agree that people shouldn’t litter the town with dog ends, I do wonder why the same enthusiasm isn’t put towards stopping the dog poo.
Apparently the Council are fining the naughty fag droppers £75 for discarding their butts in the street. It would be interesting to know if they are simply picking on the “evil smoker” or fining anyone who drops litter – I suspect not. But if the two Council spies were to get out of their “unmarked white van” and walk around the Batts or Castle Walk, they might be able to stop a doggy or two from doing it’s dirty doggy doo doo!
Of course if that were to happen, I would never be able to get a decent picture of some dog shit for this blog?
Oh well, I’ll just have to go out for a fag with the dog and see what the evening brings!
Tags: Andy, council, dog poo, fines, litter
Posted in General | 6 Comments »
As someone who has lived in this beautiful town since 1978, and also having produced the Richmond Online web site since 1998, I thought it would be a good idea to create a blog for Richmond. I’ve had couple of attempts at this in the past, but this one hopefully will be different.
I am inviting, nay cajoling, other Richmond people to contribute their own thoughts to the blog in the hope that we get an interesting and diverse range of opinions, ideas and experiences formed from living in this jewel of Yorkshire.
In the coming weeks and months I am hoping there will be a lovely mix of stories, observations, rants (most of the latter will possibly come from me!) and perhaps even a little poetry.
In the meantime, here’s a pic I took of one of my favourite places in Richmond, taken early on a summer morning on the Batts next to the river Swale.
Tags: Andy, batts, photo, Richmond
Posted in General | 5 Comments »