There was a nice two part documentary on BBC2 the other week about Colchester.

I thought of you and Mr. Zarniwoop whilst I was watching it, Countess.

If featured all sorts of colourful characters.

It wasn't that old Soldier Town one was it?

Er... no...

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/k2qs9h/murder-247--s1-e4-cromwell---part-one/

Nightjar wrote:

There was a nice two part documentary on BBC2 the other week about Colchester.

I thought of you and Mr. Zarniwoop whilst I was watching it, Countess.

If featured all sorts of colourful characters.

Yes,But.

SOME of the buildings looked quite nice, the drone shots were good, the Dutch Quarter is nice.
I actually used to walk down "Graffiti Alley" (not it's real name) to sit in the park almost every day to have my lunch when I worked in a professional photo lab in the Dutch Quarter.

It was quite nice.

and WHY did they go for a murder charge and not manslaughter?

I don't know if this link will work but I used to work in the building on the left, Taylor Court is on the right and "Graffiti Alley" is to the right of the orange house straight ahead.

Not that anyone cares probably.
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.891303,0.9006982,3a,75y,83.5h,90.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sN-bh6_Q-d1PalHba59QQGA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Zarniwoop wrote:

and WHY did they go for a murder charge and not manslaughter?

Yes!

Yes, yes, yes, YES!!

THIS!

Why?

Why did they do that, the idiots!?

This has been bothering me ever since I watched the programme.

Bl**dy police always try and push the charge up in seriousness like it's a bl*nking game.

Hubris writ large.

The way they handled the whole prosecution end of things was pathetic.

The plucky chap who came forward created a pretty good sketch of what happened and then the surviving wino told the true story, filling in all the gaps revealing that he and his accomplice were the aggressors.

The kid then related the exact same story - even admitting he'd carried knife and it used to defend himself.

Manslaughter - quite possibly aggravated - would've been the obvious charge hingeing on the fact that anyone who carries a knife has incriminated themselves from the outset.

I don't see how the jury could've arrived at another decision (what was it 5 months for carrying the blade, which since he'd been on remand for at least that amount of time meant he walked.


Ultimately, what was a pretty good true-crime procedural ended with a head-scratching whimper.

I've often thought how awful it must be living in those houses, always fighting over the parking spaces outside.

Quote :

the orange house

I like the orange house up by the hospital, the one that looks like a big block of Red Leicester.

I used to live in the flats just round the corner from there.

The Dutch Quarter. I'd never heard of it. I've googled it and it's so pretty. I will go there one Sunday when the weather is warm.

My experience of Essex is Stansted Airport and the bits on the edges of east London. Thank you so much for introducing me to The Dutch Quarter.

Plenty of nice places to see locally.

Layer Marney Tower.


Finchingfield.


Castle Hedingham, Mersea Island, Maldon, Tollesbury all nice places but everywhere is ALWAYS busy.

It looks really lovely. I will definitely be off out to north Essex when the weather becomes nicer.

As I say, my experiences thus far have been limited to fainting at Stansted, having a severe migraine at Stansted, and vomiting at a check in desk at Stansted, (and I'm very rarely physically sick). Three different occasions.

I also lost consciousness at the ritual circumcision ceremony of the baby son of my previous accountant, which I'd attended despite my disapproval because I didn't want to be rude. That was in Loughton.

Lots of singing going on so nobody particularly noticed. Due to all this, I had basically decided that Essex just wasn't for me. I had no idea such delicate prettiness existed and I'm quite excited by the prospect.

cosmictanya wrote:

As I say, my experiences thus far have been limited to fainting at Stansted, having a severe migraine at Stansted, and vomiting at a check in desk at Stansted, (and I'm very rarely physically sick). Three different occasions.

I think that is quite normal for Stansted.

Three beds, sea views, not ex council, Lib Dem MP so obviously not a dump or a den of inbred shirehorses - £125,000. I like this one...

https://www.fifespc.co.uk/properties/21-waggon-road-pittenweem-ky10-2ll/

I happen to know the next town along has a fabulous fish and chip shop favoured by Charles and Camilla. I know this because I've been there myself, after a very satisfactory afternoon working up an appetite with a St Andrews student called Matty. Queued out the door. Lovely harbour opposite to eat outside watching the boats.

St Andrews itself is only a 15 minute or so drive away. Those coastal villages are all very pretty. I don't like small towns but even I wouldn't object to moving there.

Well worth looking at...

"The charming East Neuk fishing village of Pittenweem with its archetypal pan tiled rooftops and crow stepped gables is also home to the now famous Arts Festivals and has excellent local amenities including shops, village store, post office, cafes, public houses, The Dory restaurant, galleries, school and Doctors’ surgery. The historic university town of St Andrews with its World Famous Golf Courses, Stunning Architecture and Prestigious University is 10 miles away."

All sounds like a fantastic package. Also, mention of a garage that can be rented from the local council if the ample open air parking doesn't suit.

Imagine how nice it would be to have all your sheets and things drying out in the fresh sea air. Full schedule for the above property below.

https://www.fifespc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/97e13689976b86383377b22381ba5963a9c8c488.pdf

Zarniwoop wrote:

Ah, look at the dark blues in that photo, 'Seventies Postcard Dark Blue', lovely.

Quote :

Castle Hedingham, Mersea Island, Maldon, Tollesbury all nice places but everywhere is ALWAYS busy.

Mersea and Tollesbury have a sinister 'don't let the sun set on you, outsider' atmosphere. Mersea particularly so because of the possibility of the tide covering The Strood and cutting you off.

Maldon not quite so much, but when my brother and I were kids, on a sunny weekend our parents would take us to Southend if we were lucky, to Clacton if we were really lucky, or to Maldon if we were out of luck and/or they just couldn't be arsed. Mud and the marine lake with its artificial sandy beach.

Having said that, when I heard that the marine lake had been closed down in 2004 I was outraged, I'm glad that people are campaigning to have it reopened.

Lovely tenement flat in Glasgow, to keep you in hope...

Gosh yes, I can see myself sitting by that fireplace practicing my Scottish accent.

Weirdly I was just now thinking in a rather melancholy way about how the plague is liable to delay my departure.

I’ve found you an amazing flat…

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/134998727#/media?channel=RES_BUY&id=video0&ref=photoCollage

I’d love to do that up. Right now it looks like a bit of a health hazard.

I’d have the large front as a public entertaining space, with a baby grand, different sitting areas, a dining table at the back. Sort out that WC. Use the back room as a private sitting/tv room with a Juliet balcony, breakfasting kitchen self explanatory. Remove that pointless glass window under the stairs.

Upstairs, three beds and a bathroom. Knock the bay through to create a terrace off the bedroom (I see from the satellite map a couple of the neighbours already have done the same). Convert that store into a walk in wardrobe accessed from that room. Smash a Juliet balcony into the back bedroom.

I often look enviously at similar properties as I drive past, but then I remember how annoying the parking would be.

I'd forgotten that this thread started before the plague, when I thought I'd have to leave my job and find another in Glasgow. Whereas in fact a month after the thread began, I started working remotely, and have been for 3½ years, and just got recommended for another year's extension.

Things never go the way that my mental picture of them does.