A day out in Gloucester. On the bus, the 99, where a driver who looked about 14 drove me and one or two others to the hospital for me to get a special eye check up. Much waiting in a room straight out of the 70s with just a few people. The bloke ahead of me in a fancy wheelchair that should have had L plates on it as he reversed into screens and was eventually brought to a stop by his daughter pushing the on/off switch. Charming young doctor showed me some pictures of my eyes after a technician had put drops in them to dilate the pupils. Only telling me afterwards that ‘this might sting’ meaning this will sting.

Young doc asks me what I planned for the rest of the day. I’m going to mooch around Gloucester I replied. Setting off to the City Centre past a soon to be shut down branch of Wilko, I was struck by how run down the area was. Is the presence of tattoo parlours and vape shops an indication of poor economic conditions? I was concerned that the Imperial pub was looking like it might be another victim but the decorators outside told me that it was still open, though closed at the moment. Wheeling right from there past the half timbered chip shop, a place that does fine business on rugby match days as it’s en route to the ground. Then past a closed down branch of Sainsbury.

This was the branch I used to use when we lived in the city and where I heard a young nervous female announcer offering ‘This weeks special: Leg of Salmon’ there followed a silence when she obviously realised that she had been pranked. A young manager walked past me grinning. I suspect he was responsible.

Into the Cathedral forecourt, now no longer a car park, but a really wonderful garden area. I’d gone armed with ‘ big camera’ but had no mind to take pictures of the Cathedral, the light was dull and I have loads of them already. Walking through college court on the edge of the car park, through the gateway that features in Beatrix Potter’s The Tailor of Gloucester I noticed Lillie’s Cafe having a refurb, and planning to open with new management. Old management had run the place for years and attracted generally elderly customers who liked straightforward English dishes. I wonder what will replace it. There’s not a lot of fine dining in Gloucester and Lillie’s was not fine dining, just ordinary good old fashioned stuff.

I was on the hunt for a spot of lunch. Safest bet: M and S sandwich and then go and eat it overlooking the Docks. The place was rammed, big queues at check out put me off. Plan B, which should have been Plan A, a few doors down on Southgate Street, a local company: Farmhouse, was doing a brisk trade. I wandered in faced with many porky treats. All the seats were taken so I went to the take away section and heard someone asking for a pork baguette. “What do you want with that?” Asked the assistant. You can have butter, apple sauce, stuffing, and crackling! My turn came and I said “I’ll have what she’s having please, with EVERYTHING….Ta.”

I took away my massive protein tube down to the docks, munching the odd stick of crackling, and parked myself overlooking the docks. Now the gulls in this area are prone to want your food, so I tried to be discreet. One such gull parked itself just a few yards away, giving me the evil eye. I got half way through the meat feast and then a younger bird came and started squawking, time to move. I walked over to another part of the Docks and set myself down next to a friendly faced younger man. I said “ Excuse me while I finish my sandwich” he said no problem.

He asked me what I did with a slight Eastern European accent. I mumbled about being retired, he expressed polite surprise, and asked me what I used to do. I told him and then asked what he did. He said he was Hungarian and had been a professional boxer, but he too had retired from that, and now worked for Amway. I wished him luck and went on my way. Not every day you meet a Hungarian boxer. Around the Docks to the boatyard, passing the most beautiful yellow boat, the owner who was faffing about on board, was good enough to answer my questions. He told me it was a restored Danish fishing vessel.

Moving on around the Docks, past the newish Quays shopping centre ( this development is surely why the City centre struggles, sucking all the life from the old part of Gloucester) I nipped out of the Docks through a back alley and into Brunswick Square, possibly the only smart square with private garden in the middle, in this small City.

Sharp left out of the square and up Brunswick road then nipping into Eastgate Market. There’s still a wet fish stall here! Hooray for that, sadly the stall where I used to buy my watches has gone. £3.99 for a watch might not have been enough to sustain the business.

Out onto Eastgate Street and then down through a small shopping arcade into Kings Square, the redevelopment of the former Debenhams store into student accommodation looked brilliant. What a fine idea. Then into Gloucester’s new bus station, to get the 99 again and back home.

I’d call that a fairly well rounded trip.