Aurlog

Sandy on the web

Sometimes for the sake of it and sometimes not, I have been creating Sandy, Bedfordshire sites all over the web on social networking sites. I started with Facebook, as documented earlier; I have also created a group on Flickr, as promised. Below is a list/directory of Sandy sites I have set up:

And a couple that I haven't set up:

Go thou and contribute. While we're listing Sandy things, some sources of Sandy news:

Any further suggestions welcome.

A.D. XV KAL. OCT. MMVII

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Pictures of Sandy

I have started putting some pictures I have of Sandy onto flickr. They are all tagged sandy and bedfordshire and all appear in the Bedfordshire group. I might look into setting up a Sandy group at some point.

The Sandy entry on Wikipedia, which I try to contribute to, also has a long-standing request for a photo. I'm not really sure which view of Sandy really sums the town up best.

A.D. XV KAL. AUG. MMVII

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Sandy on Facebook

Dismayed by the poor geographical coverage of the UK on Facebook, I requested Sandy as a new geographical region. After several weeks of silence, I am presuming that they are not going to approve that one. This week I asked for Bedfordshire. Surely they can't turn that down. In lieu of a proper network, I have set up a group called Sandy, Bedfordshire. I expect this to fill up quickly.

A.D. XIII KAL. IUL. MMVII

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New coffee shop in Sandy

Hooray, there is a new café in Sandy, Archie & Mabel's. We went in there on Friday to see what it was like, and again on Sunday in order to make sure they are encouraged to stay open on Sundays, there being almost nothing else to do on a Sunday in Sandy, excepting the pubs and Budgens. I also made this point to the proprietor, although there seemed to be enough people in there at the time to justify some hope. In addition, there were lots of people floating past the window while out walking who looked interested.

Anyway, the cakes are lovely, the coffee is very nice, and the people/person (Archie and Mabel's mother according to the menu) is very friendly and, along with the decor, gives the place a very welcoming air, especially for families. There are toys, a chalkboard, and books, and so forth. We now have two children so descriptions like "child friendly" are a good thing. One lady came in on Sunday asking if this was a creche or parents' morning, such is the clientele and ambience. There is also artwork for sale from the Artists Network Bedfordshire, although not really my cup of tea or price bracket, as well as a selection of gifts and things, which I predict will be replaced by a chiller cabinet at some point in the future.

The only real problem (aside from the slatted tables that make balancing cups difficult) is that they don't serve lunch, although in an overheard conversation the owner suggested that she was aware of this. Perhaps she wants to get the basics working right first.

I would recommend Archie & Mabel's. Go there on a Sunday!

There is of course another recent eatery, Gaffneys, which I haven't tried yet. It aspires to be fine dining, which the prices on the menu appear to confirm. It might be wonderful for all I know and I would like to try it; however, I wonder how such a place will thrive or survive in Sandy. The most high-brow place in Sandy before Gaffneys was China Express which, although also expensive, has an extremely popular, high quality, and not particularly expensive take-away business on the side as well as Sandwich Express, another busy café round the corner. Whereas China Express often seems busy, Gaffneys looks empty at Sunday lunch time, unless there is more seating hidden away from the public gaze somewhere. I predict Gordon Ramsay will be paying a visit...

A.D. VIII ID. MAI. MMVII

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Water and information shortage

There was a water cut in Sandy yesterday. I thought the shower had just conked out. We had some water in the tanks for the bath and so forth so I didn't think much of it and went to work. It was then interesting to see how far I could follow developments at work. I first found out about the cut, and could tell my wife about it, as the RSS feed I have set up for Biggleswade Today had the information in my feed reader when I came into work. Hurrah.

To follow developments, I looked up the Anglian Water site. A search for Sandy gave me an incident page which, although grammatically awful and low on detail, at least had the main points and was time-stamped. I had a meeting from about 2 till 4. When I got out, Biggleswade Today had triumphantly added another news item saying that the water came back at 3 (again, I could tell my wife at home and she could start actually using the water); the Anglian Water page just disappeared: there was nothing to say there ever was a problem and had that been my only source of information, I wouldn't have known what that meant. A bit rubbish. As for the BBC, they had eventually put an article via RSS saying that there was a water cut. It still says so now and they haven't issued any updates yet.

Conclusion: hurrah for Biggleswade Today; almost good but boo for Anglian Water; ho hum for the BBC.

A.D. III NON. APR. MMVII

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Pete's cornershop under new management

On Christmas Eve, I noticed that Pete's newsagent/off-licence/corner shop, the Sandy landmark at the end of our road, has now changed hands. It is now open till ten in the evening (not till eight as before), and was apparently open on Christmas Day of all things, which means there was no need for me hurry out at seven to buy eggs (for the next day's Yorkshire pudding) on two counts.

I will be sad to see the former occupants go. Since I started taking my young son in there regularly, they were a lot more friendly as they obviously like children (or she did anyway) although they seemed to forget who I was if I went in alone. Never mind.

The big question with Pete's however has always been Is it still Pete who works in there?. I have it on authority from a former Potton resident who went to school in Sandy that it was called Pete's some years before we moved to Sandy in 2002. We can be pretty sure it is not Pete in there now unless:

  1. One of the new people is also called Pete
  2. Pete, whoever he is, still owns the shop and the new people are simply new managers

These things are important.

A.D. IV NON. IAN. MMVII

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Two of everything in Sandy

Following my post earlier this year pointing out that there are two Lloyds chemists a few doors down from eachother, two Forbuoys newsagents across the market square from eachother, and two Budgens, stevepsandy was good enough to write a couple of lengthy comments to explain these points. As the comments feed for this website is still in progress for Aurlog, I reproduce his comments below. Many thanks!:

The issue of two chemists newsagents and Budgens is quite simple:

1. The big 'Fourboys' in the Market Square, used to be a private newsagents for many years, then got taken over by the TM Group t/a Fourboys. The little Forbouys down on the parade opposite used to belong to Jack Berry. When he retired and sold up, Fourboys took it over. These two units now trade under the Martin McColl banner, which is the lates incarnation of the TM Group (HO Brentwood Essex).

2. In a not disimilar fashion the two chemsts almost side by side were also competing. The big one, next to the chippy, was for many years a launderette and when first opened as a chemists, was called 'Cooks'. The small chemist, next to the alleyway leading to the Health Centre, used to be owned by a small independent, who had several pharmacies in the region (can,t recall their name off-hand but it was someone's name, first & surname - female). The small chemist was eventually sold off to what is now Lloyds and the'Cooks' chemist was already (it's believed) another trading name of the Lloyds group. It's not clear why both chemists now trade under the Lloyds banner but the two offer similar but differing services. The little Lloyds tends to be the more traditional type of chemist, selling prescription and non-presciption drugs OTC items & preparations, health related testing kits, general bathroom and washroom products and so on. The big Lloyds, whilst selling much of what the little one does, because of its' larger floor and shelf space, sell a wide range of haircare accessories, beauty aids, giftware and since recent times, invalid buggies! So, in short, the two offer quite a complementary service.

3. Budgens (now franchised in both sites), part of Musgrove Budgen Londis Group (MBL), trades both in the town centre and on the new Fallowfield development in the north of the town. The Budgens franchise in Fallowfield has come after a long battle with the developers, planners and other interested parties, to get some retail provision on the new estate (at one time, there were even plans to convert the original proposed retail units into yet more housing!

So now you know - or at least my take on the issue.

Incidentally, the Post Office (where it is now used to be an Eastern Electricity retail shop) has expanded into next door, where there used to be a dry cleaners (even before the dry cleaners, it was a sports shop). Anyway, since the 'expansion' we now have a Spar convenience store, incorporating the Post Office, the dry cleaners (no dry cleaning on the premises - its all sent away), alimited range of Spar branded and mainstream branded grocery items and even (as if we didn't have enough facilities already)self service take-away coffee unit. Oh and by the way, the stationers, up on the High Street, 'The Knack', is rumoured to be closing down soon (lack of trade?) It used to be a Video hire Shop before it was a stationers - not sure what it was before that.

The 'proper' dry cleaners next door, 'Clean Stream' used to be an estate agents (no doubt competing with Brown's opposite). Not sure what it was immediately before that.

There is more but I'll save that for another time.

...

Since my last post I have received information that in fact, what is now the Chippy was the old launderette, so I am not sure what the big chemist might have been before Cooks/Lloyds. Someone out there will surely know.

A.D. XIII KAL. IAN. MMVI

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Men's books

I recently went on an innocent trip to a Sandy charity shop the other week with my three year old son. After I had idly scanned the bookshelves for a short while, the mildly scary lady serving behind the counter asked if I was looking for men's books.

"Er...not really", I replied, "I'm not really sure what you mean by men's books anyway. Ha ha..."

"I've got a load out the back I can show you" she said. I think it was at this point I got worried. Only the presence of the aformentioned toddler reassured me that she might not be wishing to expose me to her special stash of second-hand charity shop mank.

Obediently, my son and I ventured into the back to be confronted with the predictable box of Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy clones*. "Men's books I call them". Some relief, I can tell you.

I always thought the back of the charity shop would be filled with untold delights that are kept back from the common herd. Unfortunately, I now know that I merely have to wait for the box of men's books to clear before anything good appears. Sue Ryder is much better anyway.

* Not that I mind such things, being a keen Frederick Forsyth fan myself when he's not being pants. I've also just read She by H. Ryder Haggard (bought from a charity shop) which is hardly pitched at the female market**.
** And is not, in my opinion, as good as Allan Quartermain, which is also better than King Solomon's Mines***.
*** Which, I would agree with Mr Haggard himself, is much better than Treasure Island.

A.D. VI KAL. OCT. MMVI

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Bigger library in Sandy?

The Biggleswade Chronicle reports that Bedfordshire County Council, or rather their agents (presumably men in dark glasses and a local goverment pension scheme) are investigating the idea of spending £450,000 on developing Sandy Library. It probably won't happen anyway, but hopefully, they'll move Bedfordshire's cataloguing division to the new site.

I urge you to look at the picture accompanying the article. I'm sure that beardy man doesn't work in Sandy. It doesn't look like Sandy library. Heavens, it even looks like a manual issue system which they don't use anymore. Cripes, &c.

Although the picture is a stock one representing a vague subject, a practice even the BBC uses, do take note of the headline, which has been carefully thought out, and represents a fantastic addition to the corpus of library humour:

Hopes for new library volume

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, &c.

NON. SEPT. MMVI

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Willington rowing lake to go ahead

The BBC reports that the proposed Olympic rowing lake at Willington will go ahead despite the inadequate local transport and the fact it will most likely scupper the Bedford to Cambridge railway proposals. All for a crappy training lake- it won't actually see any competition- which will probably be largely useless come 2013. At least it will be part of a larger park, although I'm not sure what the effect will be on the existing cycle path between Sandy and Bedford via Willington (which would of course be banjo'd if the railway was to come in any case).

In other Bedfordshire train news, the police have introduced a passenger metal detector scanning pilot at Flitwick station of all places. I appreciate Luton has rather put Bedfordshire on the terror map, but really. I like that Inspector John Seamarks of British Transport Police said that Flitwick is not noted for high levels of violent disorder or anti-social behaviour and this operation is aimed at keeping it that way throughout the summer holidays when many young people use the trains to travel from town to town. Obviously, it's best to concentrate resources on places that have no crime in order to make sure that there isn't any.

A.D. XIII KAL. AUG. MMVI

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Tom