When I started this blogging lark I'd no idea how it would pan out. I'll admit that the name doesn't really do justice to where we live. And even though the good people at the Marple official site have put up a link - thank you! - I'm hardly embedded in the community. I live here, I go to work in the city and have posted all manner of stuff that doesn't have much to do with this smashing little place I live.
Not having all the lads with us this weekend has left us with a lethargy we can rarely dare to contemplate. That and the preparations for a third consecutive night out.
It did however give me a small amount of time to look around Marple centre this morning without having bored and hungry children to satisfy.
The suburbs of big cities have started to morph into clones - estate agents, poncey restaurants and designer kids clothes shops. Not Marple. OK so there are plenty of estate agents, but a Saturday is a real treat popping into different butchers and grocers for various bits for the Sunday roast. There are even a couple of trendy delis which were packed out this morning.
I don't believe any shop or product ever deserves special status for being local, or British, or independent. But the shops in Marple are a pleasure partly because of those characteristics. They understand service, choice and quality. There's a site for Marple Traders which encourages people to use local services and promotes local businesses, there also seems to be a commitment to quality underpinning it.
And if the refurbed Dolce Vita can do as good a pizza for the kids as Pizza Express, then we'll be back again and again. Watch this space.
Next week: The great pie debate
No comments:
Post a Comment