Shopping

Since riding Betty, I’ve noticed a reduction in my waistline. I’ve lost a few pounds in weight. This is partly to do with Betty, and partly because I’m ‘doing the 5:2’. However, since riding Betty, I’ve also noticed a reduction in my shopping habits (which, of course, might also have an impact on my waistline).

When walking from New Street, I have a number of preferred routes. One of my favourites is the walk through Aston University past the pond. If I have time, I sometimes sit on the bench and take in the scene. It’s a little longer than the ‘La Tour’ route, as one needs to walk to the end of Corporation Street. But on a warm summer day, it is quite a pleasure.

Of course, walking up Corporation Street has its dangers (especially now they’re building a tram system). The real danger is on the wallet. Corporation Street has two – yes two – branches of Poundland - one of my favourite shops. For information, the following are my favourite shops (in no particular order, and for different reasons):

Poundland

Lidl (Blackpole, Worcester)

Aldi (Bromsgrove)

John Lewis (any branch, but especially Southampton)

Eat for Less

There are more, but these stand out as regular places I've frequented.

Anyway, there are two branches of Poundland on Corporation Street. The trouble is, when riding Betty, it is much more of an inconvenience to shop. This is the routine: park up Betty, fold her to a ‘locking’ position, lock her up, unstrap the rack bag, fix the carry strap. When I return, I need to do this in reverse (with the shopping in tow). So you can see it is more of a faff than just walking.

There is also the added anxiety of wondering if Betty will be nabbed. I do all the essential things, but one useful stress reliever is Bike Register.

This is a free (at the moment) service for bike owners to register their cycles in a similar way to vehicle registration – hopefully we’ll not be paying road tax, for the service. How it works is via an online form, where you complete the bicycle details, your details, upload pictures of your bike and receive a pdf certificate of ownership. So if anyone does take your bike, while shopping (or what ever), you have evidence, that the police can use, to retrieve it. For a princely sum of £2.99, you can also get a sticker to put on your bike (which, apparently helps to deter thieves) – or you can wait for the bike register people to have a display outside your station and get a free one (like I did).

Although, this is a good idea in principle, I’m not sure how useful it is for me as much of the time, these days, I go directly from New Street to work, park my bike by my desk, and away we go – without the regular detour to Poundland. 

Their profits must be suffering.