Wednesday 16th January

Looking back – yes I did spend many hours happily browsing and buying in HMV.  And I am old enough too to remember the old logo of the dog and the gramophone horn which actually made sense of the letters.  But then I can remember the old F W Woolworths and more importantly all those independent little shops which used to populate the high street.  So rather than give you another sad tale of how wonderful the old days were maybe we should look forward to a brave new world.  Some things it is much better to buy on the internet; I buy all my CDs now on-line; true you have to wait a few days to play them but they are far cheaper and there is generally far more choice than in a physical shop too.  Mind you I listen mostly either on my Creative Zen player or direct from my laptop, sacrificing sound quality for convenience.  Books I buy electronically for my Kindle; even though I do love the physical artifact the practicality of a Kindle wins out I am afraid.

But I would never dream of buying shoes or clothes on-line, having got to the stage where comfort and fit are far more important than style and fashion.  We have tried ordering groceries on-line, but their habit of not delivering at the time specified and the stupid substitution of out of stock items, or simply not delivering the one thing you desperately needed means we still prefer to actually go to a shop. I do read the Independent now on-line too rather than buy the paper though if I am going on a journey I will pick up the ‘i’ and do enjoy it.

We are entering a brave new world, but maybe not such a terrible one.  Maybe soon these greedy landlords who have so many empty shop units (up to a third in some towns) laying vacant or on short lets to charity shops will come up with a different model.  Maybe a share with younger people who want to sell or make things that are different and unique, sharing the costs and taking a cut of the profits might be a better way forward.  After all the homogenizing of all our high streets, each with a Boots and a Body Shop and a Tesco Metro has been a really depressing feature of Modern Life making everywhere look and feel the same.  We should not therefore bewail the demise of these old high street giants too much. There are still some places, Frinton springs to mind, where they have a thriving and interesting high street, with a real butchers and bakers and greengrocers and lots of small independent retailers, so the model can work if rents are reasonable.

And even though his master voice is silent, music is still alive.