Make of this what you will, I found this film completely fascinating. I missed it on TV but all the parts are here on You Tube. I feel it is incredibly sad to see the history and architecture of this area not being preserved, but poetic that the land is naturally being reclaimed by the prairie and farming is returning to the city.

I found it referenced on the Retro to Go website and the words are taken from their article. This is a new film by Julien Temple and it’s called “Requiem for Detroit”.

Detroit was once America’s fourth largest city. Built by the car for the car, with its ground-breaking suburbs, freeways and shopping centres, it was the embodiment of the American dream. But its intense race riots brought the army into the city. With violent union struggles against the fierce resistance of Henry Ford and the Big Three, it was also the scene of American nightmares.

Now it is truly a dystopic post-industrial city, in which 40 per cent of the land in the centre is returning to prairie. Greenery grows up through abandoned office blocks, houses and collapsing car plants, and swallows up street lights. Police stations and post offices have been left with papers on the desks like the Marie Celeste. There is no more rush hour on what were the first freeways in America. Crime, vandalism, arson and dog fighting are the main activities in once the largest building in North America. But it’s also a source of hope. Streets are being turned to art. Farming is coming back to the centre of the city. Young people are flocking to help. The burgeoning urban agricultural movement is the fastest growing movement in the US. Detroit leads the way again but in a very different direction.

Of course start doing some research on Google and there are fascinating blogs about different aspects of Detroit and amazing photographs of the abandoned buildings on Flickr. This blog, Sweet Juniper, is written by somebody who knows Detroit well and there are stunning photos of houses returning to nature in the area.

Hemel Hempstead in 1961
Old Town Face Lift (aka Hemel Hempstead New Town)

I headed to the top floor to look at CDs and music DVDs.  These are now all in plastic (eco-friendly – I doubt it?) boxes which suit their new system and admittedly make a lot less clatter as you browse.  Having armed myself with 4 CDs and 2 DVDs I went and put them on the usual desk, not realising I have to check these out myself now too.  A guy working at a computer behind the desk pointed me to the machine and said all I needed was my library card and PIN number.  Well I didn’t have a PIN so he looked that up for me…. another 4 digit number to remember, argghh.  Is it really necessary to have a PIN for this service?  The machine was quite self explanatory – first you scan in your library card, then type in your PIN and then put one item at a time in the tray area. It only made one error where I had to put the CD back underneath for it to read again.  When checking an item out it tells you if there is a fee and then you tap “YES” to accept it.  The little padlock beside the item then turns from red to green and shows as unlocked.

With my little stash of music I owed £5.80 and there is apparently no facility to accept notes or credit cards in the machine, only coins.  Here I became confused, I don’t regularly carry that much in coin but had notes, so how to pay?  I cleared the screen and went back to the chap at the computer.  He first remarked disapprovingly that I’d already cleared the screen, on this occasion he’d do the payment for me at the till then… but he also said that no, the computer doesn’t accept notes?  I was left in the dark as to how avoid the same problem in future or whether it was possible to pay on bringing items back as he wasn’t interested in explaining anything!  He also seemed unsure whether my payment at the till had been registered and told me to keep the receipt!!

I went down in the lift, paying cursory glance to the gadget beside the lift with a sign behind saying items must be unlocked here if not already done so before leaving the library – in my head the fact the lock on the machine screen changed to green-unlocked meant I’d done this and also the fact this was by the lift seemed like a last minute  “if you haven’t already, you need to do here” thing.  Luckily I got out a CD and studied the case, sure enough the red lock was showing (are elderly people really going to get all this or is it me who’s dense!).  I had to go back and swipe each item quite firmly through this contraption to physically unlock the case.   Nothing is now stamped of course, so how easy it would be to forget which day to take them all back by unless you write in yourself… and the people who take the trouble to do that (if there is even a place in the case to do so) are the people less likely to forget anyway!  I could end up owing more money and still being none the wiser how to pay.

I came out of the library really annoyed that all the personal service has gone from there too.  Yes there was an enquiries desk right over the other side of the main part of the library but there was nobody there are the time.  I mostly now know what I’m doing, can (hopefully!) remember my PIN, am fit and able to type, juggle items, understand computer screens and swipe CDs etc, but I think it is a lot to ask of the elderly, less able members of our community who seem to be increasingly forgotten in this “everyone for themselves”, do-it-yourself society.  Is it just me?  They could have self inking stamps so you can stamp items yourself and know when they are due back (one for 1 week music loans, 1 for 3 week book loans).  At the very least there should be a help buzzer beside the machines, or one member of staff keeping an eye out for people needing help.  I note they pride themselves on wheelchair access, lifts and low library counters but these machines go completely against that ethic – you could not use from a wheelchair.

Apparently the wonderful Arctic Roll went out of fashion in the ’90′s, although I’m sure it’s a lot longer ago that I last tasted one. For those who don’t remember, it has a vanilla ice cream centre wrapped in a layer of sponge cake, with some raspberry jam holding it all together. You take it out of the freezer a short time before eating – the height of 70′s convenience.

The new version has a lovely 70s-style box and there is even a new flavour added which has chocolate ice cream, sponge and sauce. It is out this month in all good supermarket freezers, priced around £1.99. I’m going to have to buy one for a touch of nostalgia!

I’m buzzing from seeing him though, one of my favourite birds but only caught sight of once before in the New Forest. I was walking back from the village over the Bourne Stream when my eye was caught by a brilliant turquoise “something” on the edge of the river where there is a small waterfall. I was able to get quite close and watched him for about 10 minutes, a couple of times he flew further upstream to perch on a tree. Amazing vivid colours in otherwise very un-colourful surroundings today.

Added to this sight, I looked out our window yesterday and was stunned to see a Kestrel sitting on a high branch of the Cedar tree next to our house. He took a bit of identifying as I’m not very good at Birds of Prey but matches the characteristics and photo on the RSPB page, definitely a young bird with very light colouring. Again he didn’t stay there long.

In recent days we have also seen a Little Egret flying around here, a big flash of white which is hard to miss flying through the trees. I didn’t know Bournemouth was such a haven for birds at this time of the year. I really should stop staring out the window and get on with some work though!

I was particularly pleased to see that one of the pilots is Nigel Lamb, a familiar name from days visiting air displays with Mum and Dad. This photo was taken at Chivenor in the early 90′s when he was flying as part of an aerobatic team. Nigel is doing well in his gorgeous Breitling plane, currently in 9th position, but it would be great if he finished higher this year. Another Brit, Paul Bonhomme, is in the lead and proving tough to beat with his skilful flying. I shall be cheering them both on and hope to see the London leg live which has to be even more spectacular.

Christine, a friend of mine, is spending 6 days in September trekking across the Carpathian Mountains in North East Romania to raise money for Link Romania’s projects there which help the poorest people. She is paying for the costs of both trek and flights, all money donated will go straight to the charity. Her target is to raise a whopping £2,000.

Next Saturday she is organising a “Putting on the Ritz” tea party at her church – complete with cucumber sandwiches of course! I’ve so far helped with posters, menus and as an extra pair of hands, but there is a lot to do to reach such a target. I think she is very brave, undertaking this completely on her own without knowing anyone else on the trek. It is also going to be physically very demanding.

Her sponsorship page can be found at http://www.justgiving.com/christinelepoidevin if you have a moment to look, or to make a donation if you are feeling generous and know like me that you could never undertake such a challenge!!

Alas Spangles are no more although apparently they did return for a short while in the 90’s. Probably today health & safety would have an issue with the razor sharp hole that appeared in the middle as the sweet dissolved in your mouth. I couldn’t find a photo of the 80’s packaging anywhere but I did find an early advertisement (pictured left) which made me laugh!

From Spangles we moved on to other sweets:

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Opal Fruits of course “made to make your mouth water” were very popular and why they have never reverted to calling them this I don’t know, “Starburst” just doesn’t evoke the same feeling. Perhaps it shows there is importance in a name, I don’t think I’ve bought them since… but then I don’t buy many sweets now.

Tooty Fruities and Tooty Minties – Tooty Fruities are still available but the minties (my favourite) are no more. These square pastilles with a hard crunchy coating and chewy centre came in small packets with different coloured greens/white for the mints and bright colours (sporting lots of E numbers!) for the fruits, the vivid purple was my favourite.

Refreshers are still around. I loved these and anything with sherbet in, great stripy packaging too which is still exactly the same.

Swizzles party bags and all that they contained….

Sherbet fountains which you could never get to work properly, trying to suck the sherbet through the liquorice straw thingy!

Fruit Salads and Black Jacks somehow went hand in hand. I’ve just ordered some of these (along with a few others) from “Bag of Sweets” and wonder if they will be how I remember.

Parma violets I wasn’t keen on – was anyone?

Drumsticks, seemed to last ages and were yummy.

Flying Saucers which dissolved very satisfactorily in your mouth with a hit of sherbet at the end.

Space Dust (now fizz wizz) was all the rage when I was at school. Can still recall the crackle on my tongue and friends sticking their tongues out saying “can you hear that”.

Gold Nuggets bubble gum which is BACK again. I loved the taste of this but one little nugget was never enough to chew on – I got through the little cloth bag in no time.

Sherbet Dip Dabs are still available in their original packing. I had these a lot but rarely ate the sweet on the stick after finishing off all the sherbet!

Maynards had a shop at Bennetts End and this was where my sweet fix came from, along with the sweet shop at The Denes occasionally. Their fruit pastilles and fruit gums are still going strong of course. They had all the sweet jars on high shelves and penny sweets under the counter, which were somehow magical purchased in a white paper bag of course which got very sticky.

Other sweets remembered include: Toffo, Fruit Polos, Cherry Drops, Blobs (lovely name, which I used to accidentally swallow so stopped buying!), Love Hearts, Jazzies, Strawberry Bootlaces, Catherine Wheels (liquorice strip curled up with an aniseed sweet in the middle), chocolate tools, chocolate/candy sticks & sweet cigarettes, packets of stickers with a flat oblong piece of bubble gum in.

Chocolate wise my favourite was always mint cracknell which was 2 rectangular bars of sharp bright green mint cracknell covered in milk chocolate in an equally bright green wrapper. I used to buy these from the vending machine at the sports centre after swimming. Was a Banjo bar like a Drifter? Frys Five Centres I was never sure about. I adored Caramac which is still around, for some reason I used to melt it in a saucepan and pour over ice cream! The other was Old Jamaica, a favourite of Dad’s, which came in a lovely orangey packaging with a big ship on the front.

No idea if you can still buy a “Weekend” box of chocolates which were a party favourite at home. There were some funny ones in there including a noisette milk chocolate in a red concertina paper case, a fudge with ridged top, lemon jelly, some crystallised vivid green thing with chocolate bits on, a chocolate strawberry, pretty sure one had something vaguely alcoholic in which I’d always go for, rum probably!

Meltis New Berry Fruits were always bought for old relatives when we went to visit! After a bit of a search I see they have been relaunched and were not, as I thought, the same as York Fruits (no liquid centre in those).

Terry’s Neapolitans – a special selection of miniature chocolate bars. I just loved these but they disappeared, along with a great tradition and much sadness, in 2005 when the Terry’s of York factory closed down.

Ice Gems, recently found they are still around but hadn’t had them for about 20 years. You’d always eat the icing off the top and be left with the boring biscuit base. One of the prettiest biscuits though!

Curly wurly, Mum’s favourite. I lost at least one filling whilst eating one of these, always too much for me to get through in one go too but great design!

Club Biscuits “if you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our CLUB”. I think they still make orange but I liked the mint one with a mint leaf on the paper wrapper.

Viscount mint biscuits, round biscuits covered in milk chocolate in a green wrapper. Yum.

Wagon Wheels, apparently we all think they have gotten smaller! It used to be a struggle to finish one whereas now most of us could probably fit the whole biscuit in our mouth at once.

We then went on to crisps, some we’ve since found are still in the shops, maybe with slightly different names and different packaging:

Space Invaders and Sky Divers looking just as you’d expect! Monster Munch of course, pickled onion flavour lethal! Smith’s Salt ‘n Shake which disappeared from the shelves at least once but came back by popular demand. I remember finding at least 5 little blue bags in one packet! Wotsits, Ringos, KP Skips, Chiplets, Chipsticks, Tubes, Quavers, Square crisps, Puffs, Space Invaders, Twists, Frazzles, Twiglets (my favourite, especially when they used to come in the red box and were still made by Peak Frean). Do you remember Piglets? That was one I found on the Internet and had completely forgotten. Little pig shapes, hollow in the centre, kind of like mini crackers, weird. Burtons Fish ‘n Chips, another favourite, savoury biscuit shapes with quite a lot of flavour. I loved the red, white and black newspaper style bag they came in.

Do add any you remember and thanks for reading my sweet-toothed ramblings. I’m off to eat a Wagon Wheel for the first time in 20 years, swear they’ve got smaller though!