Meadowhall

The central dome of Meadowhall  (©Terry Robinson)

On the north eastern outskirts of Sheffield there is a big shopping centre or "mall". It opened in 1990 and it is called Meadowhall. Occupying an area of 1,500,005 sq ft, it is the largest shopping centre in Yorkshire.

People still flock there. It is easily accessible by train, tram and bus and it is surrounded by vast car parks. Meadowhall is very close to the M1 motorway.

To tell you the truth, I rarely go there but ahead of my flight to The American Virgin Islands early on New Year's Eve, I needed to do something about my camera - i.e. buy another one! My favoured "Sony" bridge camera with which I have taken several thousands of photographs had developed an irritating fault - namely a black spot on every image caused by some tiny debris behind the lens.

Getting it repaired would not have been cost effective and besides, no good servants last forever do they? It was time for a new camera - without blowing the bank. I knew that "Jessops" had the modestly priced new Panasonic Lumix bridge camera I was after for just under £400  (US$540).

I decided to travel to Meadowhall by public transport. Using my South Yorkshire Senior Travelcard the journey would not cost me a penny. Bus into the city centre then tram out to Meadowhall and back.

While waiting at the bus stop, another man joined me. His name is Phil and he has lived across the road from us for the past twenty five years. There he and his wife Janet raised two sons - David and Paul. But to tell you the truth, until today I had never really "rapped" with Phil.

He was heading out to Meadowhall too - to get something done about his faulty hearing aids. So we spent quite a long time in conversation together and then - damned me - I met up with him once more for the two  leg journey home.

And it was so nice to talk with him.  Our interaction was easy and balanced,  though we both got fired up when mention of the current US president occurred. We were in total agreement that the guy is abhorrent. Fortunately, we were soon able to lower the temperature by returning to more domestic  chitter-chatter.

And - by the way - I secured my new camera and Phil got his hearing aids fixed. I also managed to pick up a half price Christmas pudding from Marks and Spencers. Perhaps - in the weeks running up to the festive season - I should rename myself Christmas Pudding... just for a while.