There used to be

A friend was making his first visit to the Diss since living there as very young child just after World-War II. He recalled that there used to be a garage near the corner of Mere Street and Victoria Road, but not on the site currently occupied by Jewel’s Garage. And there it was… A photograph in the Memory Lane feature of the spring 2005 issue of the magazine Dispatch, showed the staff collected outside of Chitty’s Garage waiting to embark on their annual outing. Echoes of happier times. How many businesses these days have an annual outing? Many thoughts followed.

Through 2005 there was hot discussion locally as to the merits of the proposed addition of a further giant store in the town. We already had Somerfield, Safeway and Rainbow serving a population approaching seven thousand. I could never see that gaining a large corporation outlet like Tesco and losing a co-operative like Rainbow was a simple exchange. The huge corporations used their powerful lobby to convince European Ministers that it would be beneficial to allow ever-larger trucks on our roads. However, in towns like Diss where the roads were designed for horse transport, the true cost is passed to the general public. On its tower, in a residential area, the French-owned water-corporation leases space for German-owned mobile phone transmitters.

Due to competition and Post Office (corporation) policy, in the handful of years that I have known Diss, two or three sub-post office shops have closed. Tesco has a carefully targeted range of products it can offer and polished training schemes for its staff. Will this destroy more small businesses? I remembered my late father-in-law running his newsagent business in Harpenden and the toll it took on his temper! Now Tesco is here and Morrison have taken over and doubled the size of the old Safeway store. The design of the pedestrian access seems to deter customers from taking the stroll to the specialist shops in Diss. As the traffic builds, the quality of life for local residents will suffer.

Chorus:

La-da-da-de, da-da-de-da-da, La-da-da-de, da-da-de-da-da,

There used to be a garage on the corner - where the supermarket is now

And there used to be a shop and post office - with newspapers for you and me

Verse

There were times when you might find him slightly less than friendly,

Grudging you the time of day

You’d be tired too if you had risen at four thirty

Sending papers on their way.

Verse 2

Corporate greed and not the need of those who try to live here

Seem to rule our world today

How many folk in this town own one share in a supermarket

Even in a pension plan?

Chorus and Verse 3

Roads in ruts from foreign trucks just tearing up the Tarmac

Eurocrats have let them come

Shipping bulk to cut their cost the giant stores will profit

As we pay to repair our road

Verse 4

Mobile phone mast next to homes to serve the latest mania

Pictures for your pals to see

If radiation cooks the brain of kids with thinner crania,

You’ll seldom see that on T.V.

Chorus then Coda: La-da etc + That is what there used to be… That is what there used to be… End