The Comfortable Cage of Sweet Routine: A Day Interrupted in Swindon Town Centre

Poem by: Mark.A Pritchard (aka Rorshach1004/Swindon Poet)
Date: 3rd September 2015


Sweet routine, you comfortable little cage, on tracks I roll, going where I always go, but suddenly, leaves, a red stop sign, the comic book shop has a little notice on it’s closed door.

‘Gone for an emergency, back before 12:30pm at the latest.’

So I’m waiting in a coffee shop, not the vulgar ‘Friends’ type, the old fashioned type, the type where you sit at a little wobbly table, brush the sugar away, and watch for wasps.

I sit eating a brown bread cheese and onion toasty, with coffee.

The coffee is black, and much nicer than I thought that it would be. It shocks me into wakefulness, banishing the routine, the dream, this is reality now, and I’m forced to stop, stare and think about it.

The shoppers fly past, ignoring me, as they ignore each other, this is society, no communication, just little tracks of routine still running.

I watch the routines fly by as my own tracks are delayed, thinking back to mornings five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty years ago.

I have changed, but am still the same, sitting alone as I always did, not because of any reason, it's just the way that things are, and I do not question it now.

I finish up my coffee and there is a little smiley face at the bottom of my cup. He’s smiling at me, wishing me a pleasant day. I smile back, is this communication?

I sit up, the Polish waiters talk amongst themselves, and it’s almost 1pm. The comic book shop should be open by now.

I walk for two minutes, it’s open, the stop sign turns to green, and I’m back to my old routine again.




The beautiful image at the top of this poem is ‘Alone In the Crowd,’ by US artist David Derr. You can find his work here: 
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/alone-in-the-crowd-david-derr.html

Sweets Galore- The Best Little Sweet Shop in Town

Address: 21 Canal Walk, Brunel Shopping Centre, Swindon, Wilts SN1 1LD

Telephone number: 01793- 938130

Website:
http://s500499853.initial-website.co.uk/

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweets-Galore-Swindon/661370433904428




I’ve just been to my local sweet shop where I picked up a bag of Strawberry Creams, and a bag of half Sherbet Lemons and half-Strawberry Sherbets.

The second bag would usually have been full of Sherbet Lemons, but Sweet’s Galore is so popular that the Lemons ran out, so I had to be topped up with their Strawberry cousins this week.

I hadn’t tried Strawberry Sherbets before, and was given a free sample by the nice lady behind the till, and decided that, yum yum, I’ll top up my second bag with those deliciously flavoursome sweeties thank you very much.

It’s a happy day for me, as I’ve just discovered a yummy new sweetie that could easily begin to rival the awesome Sherbets themselves.

You’ll find me in Sweets Galore every Tuesday afternoon, topping up my weekly supply of sweeties.  I love the place. It’s great, the sweets are plentiful, the prices are low, and there’s always a friendly face waiting there to remind me that the past didn’t die, it’s still here, if we want it.

I say that because last week I was watching a television show featuring Heston Blumenthal doing his best Willy Wonka impersonation and bemoaning the fact that good old-fashioned sweet shops simply don’t exist anymore. Err, sorry mate, but they do, you just have to look for them.

You’ll find Sweet’s Galore in Swindon town centre (right next to McDonald’s). It’s not nostalgia, or a time warp, or a relic of a long gone, and much missed era. It’s a brilliant sweet shop, that is beloved by children and adults alike, and it's doing a roaring trade in Swindon town centre, right now, in 2015, and why wouldn’t it be?

It’s a friendly place, in a great location, and they sell what people want to buy. They stock a bountiful selection of traditional sweeties and new creations and they have everything that a sweet toothed person like myself could possibly desire.

If you like sweets, then they’ll have what you are looking for, and something new for you to try as well. The shop is a family business, the owners are cheerful, friendly and helpful and you will get a big bag of sweets for a couple of quid.

Heston Blumenthal might appear on television bemoaning the demise of the traditional, old fashioned sweet shop, but he evidentially hasn’t been to Swindon town centre any time soon. If he did pay us a visit then he’d find that the past didn’t die here, it’s still alive, just as good as ever, and it’s going to be here for a long time yet.

Sweet’s Galore doesn’t need me to tell them that they are doing a fine job. They already know, as they spend all day with a packed sweet shop serving smiling face after smiling face. So all that remains for me to say is, thank you Sweets Galore, keep doing what you are doing, and keep on being the best little sweet shop in town.


Rating 10/10 (Top sweets, top prices, friendly and helpful staff and a shop that always has a happy and contented feel about it)