Published in the Littlehampton Gazette November 29th. 2012

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?: LA is set fair to becoming one giant housing estate if the politicians have their way. It will stretch to Angmering and beyond to the east, to Arundel in the north and God only knows where to the west. Only the English Channel will stop us becoming French and I wouldn’t bet on that. A friend of mine and I were gazing out across the River Arun the other week and she said it was sad, but that would all be housing one day and the only bright side to that was it would take a while and she very probably wouldn’t be around to see it! Is it likely to happen and can we do anything about it? Well, Asda and Morrison’s are here and other big stores rumoured to be on the way so I assume they think it to be pretty likely. Can we stop it? My guess is that we can only slow tomorrow down and that is a bleak prospect for this lovely area. Other questions might be, where are all of these folk coming from and what the heck will they be doing when they get here after the houses are built and the new stores fully staffed?

SO LONG IT’S BEAN GOOD TO KNOW YA: Nothing lasts forever and, sadly, some things do not work out the way we hoped they would but some things are just too hard to take. It sits there on my dining room table and I stare at it longingly, the last can! Possibly the last 200 gram can of Heinz Curry Beans in LA, baked beans soaking in that lovely orange, sultana rich curry sauce. The line has been discontinued. I wrote to Heinz but my protestations met with a luke warm response and the empty promise to pass my comments on to their marketing department. I found the last two cans in Sainsbury’s and foolishly, or rather unselfishly, gave one to an equally distraught friend. So there they sit, shall I eat them now or save them for a rainy day? I look out of my window and wouldn’t you just know it? It’s raining cats and dogs. Ah well, it’s bean good to know you, and, like I said, nothing lasts forever…