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Me and him

Charlie was delighted with his anniversary present! and here we are, comparing size, side by side.

Sign of the Times

Took a wee daunder along Great Western Road today, and noticed this gorgeous old fashioned shop sign.

This shop was, for years, "GLR Stores" which I always just thought of as Russells the Ironmongers. It was a mental wee shop, PACKED with stuff, and I mean PACKED. There was a floor area of about two foot square in front of the boxed in sales counter, where you had to ask the various aging shop assistants for whatever it was you wanted, they would shuffle off and look it out from a box in some unseen corner. They had masses of bizarre 1970s kitchenware that had been there since, well, the 1970s, that was never, ever going to sell. It sounds gloriously kitsch, but really wasn't. But it was a great shop, the place where you could get just about anything in the sinkplug/ broomhandle/ obscure lightbulb vein.

I don't know what happened, but the shop was obviously sold, and the new owners must have had a hell of a job dismantling all the shop fittings, shelves and that boxed in counter. The shop stayed open for a while, they were still trying to sell off all the old stuff . In fact, I bought a wonderful 1960s can of mothproofing spray which only lasted for one skoosh as the button got stuck and wouldn't go off, so I had a bit of a moth armageddon (haven't seen one since).

Now the shop is completely empty, and they've removed all the internal wall coverings to reveal original tiling, and also the beautiful original signage above. I hope the new proprietors keep it.