Christmas in Broadway
23 December 2003
Although
Toddington is about equidistant from Winchcombe and Broadway, we think of the
former as ‘our’ town: it is in the same county,
and on the way to Cheltenham, where Jay goes to school; it is also a normal
town, despite its ancient heritage – it was once the Saxon capital of
Broadway,
on the other hand, is unashamedly a tourist attraction: where the villagers buy their everyday goods,
we have never worked out: the broad
high street accommodates a range of specialty shops, with a strong emphasis on
gifts and collectables. I hesitate to
say ‘souvenirs’: this would give the
wrong impression – Broadway is very much for genteel tourists and rich
foreigners. Nevertheless, once in a
while we go there, avoiding the height of the tourist season, and one such
occasion is pre-Christmas.
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Though Teresa
and I went by ourselves last week, today we take Jay with us |
She’s pleased
today, because she now has a bank account, and she’s going to pay in money
for the first time and use her cash card in the hole-in-the-wall (if she can
remember the PIN) |
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There are
Christmas trees in the passage from the car-park to the shopping area |
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The main street
is quiet today |
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Jay successfully
negotiates her first banking transactions, and we wander in and out of the
shops |
The pub at the upper end
(above, centre) is where we had Christmas lunch with Teresa’s mother for the last
time |
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The expensive
antique shops are not on our agenda |
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At first, we
look mainly at gift shops, including this specialist Christmas shop |
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Next door there
is a dolls’ hospital |
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One of our favourite
shops, particularly for stylish household equipment |
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After adding
modestly to our haul of Christmas presents, we finish at a clothing shop,
where Jay acquires a new fleece |
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On the way back to
the car, we pass through a small modern shopping arcade, decked out for the
occasion |
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Jay calls at the
sweetshop as usual |
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In the arcade,
Roger and Jay grapple with the shopping bags (in the background) |
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