‘Booming’ in Basildon..
The newspaper headlines were bold & boasting ‘Basildon Boomtown’, the town was on up in the polls now, as the “9th best place to live & work in the Uk” according to the local newspaper and if that’s not enough ‘big business’ is coming to town and that meant big news for Basildon. These were the news headlines that greeted me on my recent visit on a Saturday afternoon. There was I just looking for a few bargains, not realising this ‘momentous occasion’ when Basildon will hit the headline’s again. (Remember the big Basildon ‘Hollywood’ style sign making global news? Google it!) It seems that big business is now ‘big business’ in Basildon with Costa Coffee and Amazon taking up residence in the town.
Thus creating new jobs, this is good news, but I wasn’t going to let this get in the way of my bargain shopping. Now that I was in Basildon the market was on and the charity shops were waiting, there was no time to waste and I was ready to rummage ‘big time’ and have a real ‘hoe down’. Despite the upbeat and positive news headlines the first sight that I encounter was another charity shop ‘bites the dust’. Barnardo’s shop in the bus station was now closed much to my dismay & chagrin…now that Basildon ‘is on the up’ what about the charity shops?
How many of them were going to be left? As I made my way through town I found most still surviving (phew that was a real relief I can tell you) Barnardo’s was gone but there was a new one for a local charity. So this is also good news despite me lamenting the loss of Bernardo’s. I always find the sight of a charity shop closed very sad and sometimes even sadder when they’ve been ‘upgraded & remodelled’ & ‘marketed’ & ‘sanitised’, to me this does not suit the purpose for me of a charity shop where you’re meant to rummage through all the bargains in a ‘carefree’ & dare I say ‘slightly wild manner’.
Putting this negative news aside, I put my ‘best foot forward’ in my comfortable Clifford James shoes and hit the charity shops & town in Phillippa stylee. So what was on offer? Well all I can tell you there were plenty of hats from formal to the casual I was spoilt for choice, so if I had a wedding to go to I certainly would have found the right hat!, but unfortunately this is not on the calendar so I’ll have to dismiss it from my mind at the moment. There were lots of bag’s also & a particularly choice one, a appealing bag with a dog on it, I resisted the temptation it was just maybe a little bit too much for me. (And possibly rather distracting..).
There were plenty of shoes from the high to the low, from the sensible to the completely outlandish, either way if I was looking for shoes I was certainly in the right place. The market was resplendent with lots of different knitwear on offer and plenty of legging’s in a variety of styles but Philippa wearing leggings is not really a ‘done thing’, REALLY. A total fashion no-no! And ‘lo and behold’ I came across a very ‘jazzed up’ British Home Stores (not like one the one in my local town) there was fashion aplenty that suited me, including nice sensible cardigans, A-line skirt’s & comfy ‘practical’ shoes, but well not really at the bargain prices I was looking for.
And if I was looking for some rather ‘decadent or gaudy’ ornaments I certainly was in the right town centre, though with this amount of bling I think is only for the bold & the brave. (Though maybe in some way they capture the enterprising & ambitious spirit of the town – which certainly like’s to stand out). So all in all I certainly enjoyed my excursion to Basildon & feel I found just the right amount of ‘fashion inspiration’ to keep me going for a while (on a local level of course…!).
