Allerton Road is a great place to spend an hour or so, for a couple of reasons. Firstly it has the best shop ever, no arguments. It also retains an old-fashioned “high street” atmosphere, the sort that supposedly disappeared from Britain in the 1950s.
There are a few chain stores there: Woolworths, WHSmith and Boots. The latter's sign is old and faded, almost as if head office has forgotten that this shop is still open. But most of the shops are independent retailers; there’s a traditional butcher's shop, Wise Travel Agents with a gloriously dated logo in an 80s font.
And it's great, very pleasant and civilised. Even the tracksuit-wearing scallies seemed classier than the average breed.
Anyway, I left Hatton's clutching a Hornby Class 58 and a Bachmann Turbostar. Another £114 well spent.
Am I spending too much on this stuff? I’m worried that at some point I'm going to walk in there for my latest fix and the guy behind the counter will say, “I’m sorry, I think you've had enough,” to which I'll reply, “I'LL TELL YOU WHEN I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!”
Then I'll have to start stealing to feed my habit, and in a few months the newspapers will have a picture of me lying unconscious in a dingy bedsit, surrounded by track (Hornby R621, fishplates sold separately) and wagons (R6213 HAA Coal Hoppers).
The Daily Mail will claim that I started on Scalextric and graduated to “the hard stuff”, with Melanie Philips expressing moral outrage as appropriate. Bluewater Shopping Centre will ban all model railway enthusiasts, or OOdies, as they will undoubtedly become known.
Or I might be talking rubbish. Wouldn't be the first time, eh?
21st May 2005 at 8:57 pm
I WANT ONE OF THOSE TURBOSTARS.