View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Thursday 11 December 2008

Thursday 11 December

Gradually increasing cloud cover, which leads to some phenomenal cloudscapes. It's been a good week in that respect. Today, a nationwide sale starts in Woolworths, a British department store. The sale is the pre-amble to a shutdown of the chain, which is currently in administration. Buyers are being sought, but things are looking bleaker by the day. In most British towns and cities, Woolies would not really be missed. It will be badly missed in Stornoway. We don't have that many shops selling a variety of household and other items, and what else we do have is mostly (a lot) dearer. No I'm not plugging Woolies. I'm just bemoaning the imminent loss of a useful shop.

Robert Mugabe, 9-digit inflation man, may well become an ostrich in his next life. He is already going round with his head firmly stuck in the sand over the cholera outbreak in his country. Mugabe has declared that there is no cholera in Zimbabwe, which is in stark contrast to the fact that 800 people have already died of the disease and it is spreading across his country's borders. Naturally, everybody else gets the blame. Read and weep.

7 comments:

  1. I drove through our cloudscapes this morning on my drive to work ~ I don't think I've ever driven in such thick fog!

    Weep indeed over the cholera story. I cannot fathom the living conditions those poor folks endure. Mugabe is insane - he needs to go.

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  2. We used to have Woolworths here. I loved it but it closed down years ago.
    Cholera?? OMG! Mugabe is crazy. Why do all of the crazy people get into positions of power? I don't get it?

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  3. So sad about Woolies. That is one American thing that has not lasted over here. Nearly 100 years, I do wish someone could have saved it. My Mum worked there, I had a Saturday job there and most of our shopping came from there because you could buy everything from pots and pans, to needles and thread, from toys to sweets. In the end there will only be one big supermarket where we will all have to shop. The coming of the hypermarkets tolled the knell for high street shops. There will never again be anything quite like good old Woolies. I also feel for all those losing their jobs in this economic climate.

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  4. We know in this country what it is like to be at the mercy of a limited man in charge. You following the career of Mudabe led me to reading about him wherever I find information and what his regime has done to the country is most disturbing!

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  5. Woolies started in america guido and the uk branch only came under british ownership seperate to the american side in the early 1980's...The american side closed in the late 1990's i think...To be honest their sale ain't that great even for a normal sale let alone a closing down one...I know several people who work in the branch here and they still don't know if they are going to have a job for much longer or not :o(

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  6. I still miss Woolworths. It was a great store with just about anything and everything. I was sad when they left here. Now Walmart has taken over just about all sales of that kind. I wonder they haven't made it to your neck of the woods. They seem to be on every corner here.
    'On Ya'-ma

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  7. I heard on the news Iceland want to buy some of the stores ..love Jan xx

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