Does a pic in here spell doom for businesses?

While I do have a tendency to grab pics of businesses (usually shops) that have just closed, I do sometimes wonder if the effect could be the other way around.

I recently (last October) featured a quick look at Ayr’s Queen’s Court Centre, following the passing of Glen Michael, as his wife opened a shop there back in the day, and I noted it still appeared to be doing similar business today.

I may be wrong, but I also seem to have memories of it being promoted as a sort of early Craft Village as well.

Fast forward a few weeks, and here’s the same scene pictured a few days ago.

Miserable, cold, windy, winter day, and now empty windows.

On the plus side, it wasn’t raining.

And a ‘To Let’ sign.

Sorry.

☹

Remembering Glen Michael’s wife’s shop in Ayr

With the recent passing of Glen Michael, I was reminded of the days when news broke of his wife opening a jewellery shop in Ayr.

It didn’t interest me at the time, being more interested in the cartoons he brought us every week, but I never forgot about the shop, and am sad to say I also recall a number of unkind comments carried by the media about her venture.

At the time, I had absolutely no interest in jewellery, and never saw the shop, but did know where it was.

The shop’s obviously long gone now (I couldn’t even tell you when it was opened), but the sad recent event prompted me to try to remember to take a present day pic of the site.

That said, because I never saw/visited it, I look at the spot every time I pass, and think about it, so there’s no way I can EVER forget it.

I may be wrong, but I do seem to remember there was some sort of antique court there for a time, but that could just be my fevered imagination.

I have absolutely no idea if this is some sort of legacy of those early days, but I was intrigued to see the windows show that the site is still in the jewellery business

I actually miss the various cartoons as they were shown on TV in the past.

The material is now mostly available on YouTube, but you have to know what you’re looking for by name, or be prepared to search – something that often doesn’t work well as YouTube tends to favour monetised content, and consequently suppress rare material. I often decide something I’m looking for is not in there, only to find it suddenly jumps to the top of the search results if I happen to format a near exact search string.

Things were really a LOT better when there were programmes like Glen’s specialising in the subject, and when the broadcaster filled in short scheduling spots with things like Tom & Jerry every evening.

It was much better because you could watch them as they were intended, as single items, rather than the marathon online sessions, where they’re delivered in one or two hours sessions with complete series in one dump, and you have to control the delivery yourself, AND maintains some sort of record, to avoid going over the same material again and again.

There goes Glen Micheal

I don’t look at much of the news, probably because I keep seeing bad news nowadays.

Glen Michael dies aged 99 as tribute paid to Scottish TV legend

It’s slightly ironic in a way, as it’s probably not that long ago (still a good few years though, not just yesterday), since I tripped across an article which reminded me he was making it to a good age. Having not heard anything about him for a long time, I had assumed he was no longer with us, and was glad to see the update.

He’s definitely one of my long time favourites, if only for the years he kept me glued to the TV with ‘his ‘Cartoon Cavalcade, and probably why I miss the original cartoons making an appearance there now. At least they can be found online.

Although I was surprised to learn he was around when I did, he’s always in my mind, as I walk along Ayr’s Sandgate every time I’m in the town, and get a reminder as I pass the small court (it might have been a antique court around that time) where his wife had a small jewellery venture. which was given quite a lot of publicity when it opened.

I don’t have a pic to include, so I’ll have to collect one next time I’m there.