24 July (Part 4) - It isn’t called Scabby Wood for nothing
Today will end the way it began, with
pictures taken in my nearest shopping street. It wasn’t supposed to be that
way but UPS screwed up the whole of today - with repercussions into tomorrow and beyond - by not delivering a parcel. Long story so let’s move on.
Boris Johnson pumped £150,000 into
the so called Abbey Wood Village, Greenwich and Bexley Councils
chipped in another £75,000 each. Then Greenwich Council generously
refurbished all the public realm using their HILLS budget.
The traders dipped into their pockets too and Network Rail/Crossrail will spend around £6 million on tarting
up the area nearest the station. I sometimes think it will prove to be a bit of a disaster for the local community.
Traffic problems at peak times are horrendous and can only get worse and
putting the main station entrance on the flyover looks like a massive mistake to
me - but that is maybe a blog for another time, when I think about it a bit more.
This evening BiB will stick to present day Abbey Wood. It’s the pits. The place is as often as not
near deserted and the shops
get few customers. Commuters come from the station rushing to the bus stops or
the only remaining car park, keen to get home after a long day at the office
and spend nothing. They don’t even pop into the pub adjacent to the station exit.
In the middle of the day the main centre of activity is outside the betting
shops, smoking, drinking and loudly swearing. It is little wonder that one no longer
sees young mums with young children in Wilton Road. Police patrols simply don’t
exist. Never seen one in 30 years.
A few weeks ago
a shop window
was smashed by a brick, today it was a car windscreen.
Someone who may have already blotted his copybook in the Mini Cab office was
refused service. There was a confrontation, he left, crossed the road, found a
brick and smashed it through a cab window - except it wasn’t a cab at all.
The culprit was captured on CCTV, the cab office is festooned with cameras, and
the incident has been reported to the police. No one is optimistic that they
will do anything about it. I’ll let you know.
The café and some of the shops in Wilton Road are really rather good but two betting shops (10% of total shop premises) drag the place down.
When I go to Wilton Road, unless I am there with the intention of buying something, I no longer take any money, I’m fed up with the beggars.
In other news, the brothel may have been closed down, but it has not gone far. Romanians are a resourceful lot!
Click image for a wider view.