People who know me know that wherever possible I like to support small independents. That's certainly true when it comes to coffee shops and we do visit coffee shops a lot. In Hethersett we have Kin Cafe which I think sounds more exotic if you switch the words round and call it Cafe Kin.
At nearby Wymondham we have numerous inde coffee shops/cafes. I particularly like The Mad Hatter's, The Courtyard and the Hideout. There are no large conglomerates in Wymondham.
But back to Hethersett. There was an interesting post on Facebook about the resurfacing of the car park in front of Tesco Express. This is an area that often causes traffic concern as it is directly off the main village road and sees vehicles regularly backing out of parking spaces onto the main road.
Recently Tesco resurfacd its car park but it didn't resurface all of it. Next to Tesco's is a Chinese Takeaway which is very good. The parking spaces in front of the Chinese weren't resurfaced by Tesco's despite the fact that people using Tesco's park in them and there is nothing to stop them doing so.
A post on Facebook pointed out that people using Tesco's shouldn't park in the spaces near the Chinese which should be kept for customers of the takeaway.
Now that really isn't going to happen. People dump their vehicles anywhere they can. The short term car park close to Tesco's is owned by the parish council but the term short term isn't enforceable without a great amount of effort and probably some considerable cost. So people park there all day to either work in one of the local businesses or to get the bus into Norwich.
Yesterday there was an announcement that parking in South Norfolk car parks in the lead up to Christmas would be free for two hours to encourage people to shop local. Somebody asked why parking couldn't always be free all day.
Our district councillor Kathryn Cross pointed out that if this was the case it would be counter productive as people would park all day and get the bus into Norwich.
I guess it's human nature to take advantage. But back to Tesco Express in Hethersett and I must jump to their defence. I'm not going to refer to the parking debate because whatever rules you put in place will be ignored. The library has a sign stating it's for the use of library users only but every day cars picking up children from Hethersett Academy park there and I have had a rather unsavoury argument in the past with an arrogant man who shouted at me because I blocked his car in for a few seconds whilst I quickly ran into the library to take some books back. He was picking up from the school and thought he had every right to park there and I didn't despite the fact I was actually using the library and he wasn't.
But back to Tescos. They may be a massive national company but in Hethersett they really support local groups. As you know I'm involved with a number of local groups and organisations and Tesco regularly support The Friends of Hethersett Library, the Methodist Church, our Forget Me Not Cafe and much more. They are always approachable and supply tea, coffees and much else for local groups, this saving us a considerable amount of money as, in the words of so many charities, we get no finance from the Government.
I guess my message here is don't always judge a book by its cover. Our Tesco store is very much part of the local community although I'm sure that many people aren't aware of that fact.
When I'm writing about organisations I always have to remember my journalistic training. Organisations and groups are its, people are theys. It does get confusing at times. Take reporting on councils. If you refer to councils I would use it but if you are talking about council members it is they as in
Hethersett Parish Council is going paperless. It decided unanimously at its last meeting to scrap using paper reports. Members agreed unanimously that they should use online methods.
The above actually happened by the way as I report and comment on in the December edition of Hethersett Herald.
Which brings me nicely onto the fact that The Herald is now online for your delectation. It's edition 98 and edition 99 will follow on Christmas Eve. It doesn't take a mathematical genius to work out that the February 2024 edition will be number 100.
And to mark that milestone we will be doing some more promotion to try and get the publication better known. If you read it please do tell neighbours and friends. We very much need to spread the word.
Now you all know that I'm pretty long in the tooth and how did that come about I hear you cry? Well quite simple I respond. I was born and now here I am 71 years later. I thought 59 was a scary age but now I wish I was 59. Of course when I was 59 Hethersett Herald didn't exist and neither did our wonderful grandchildren of whom we are immensely proud.
But I digress and you all know how I love digression.
While we are on the subject of Facebook. Hethersett Herald has a new Facebook page. I will let you know more about this in a few days.
Turned on the news yesterday to find out that a trio of well known people had died. They were former Labour Party minister Alastair Darling, rock musician Shane MacGowan and US diplomat Henry Kissinger. Darling was 70, MacGowan just 65 and Kissinger 100. I once interviewed MacGowan, only on the telephone. Don't remember anything about that interview.
It may sound ridiculous but the main thing I remember about MacGowan was his ugly teeth before he got them fixed.
Closer to home, a good friend of Hethersett, John Nightingale has died. I have known John for many many years. He was a parish councillor for years as well. I last spoke to John a few weeks ago when we had some enjoyable banter as we always did. It's a trite phrase to say he will be missed, be HE WILL be missed.