Egg Throwing and Wine Glasses Strange Days in Stratford Upon Avon

When I was a teenager, weekends were predictable. Saturday nights often started at the Cross Keys pub. It had a pool table and a jukebox back then. We next went to Chicago Rock Café. It wasn’t run-down those days. Then, we went to the kebab shop by NatWest. They no longer sell potato wedges though. My friend and I ate chips in a phone box and watched fights at the taxi rank.

Most of that feels like a long time ago now, though I can still see people yelling near NatWest. Now, I just go during the day and wait at the bus stop.

I don’t mock drug and alcohol problems; I feel sympathy for people with addiction. However, I don’t like people passed out on the sidewalk. It reminds me of a TV show.

A group hangs out there and drinks a lot of cheap lager and strong cider. One day, I saw two men sharing red wine. They even had wine glasses. I smiled and called it “civilized.” One replied, “You gotta make the effort.” I liked that exchange, and I felt a bit kinder toward them.

Three weeks later, someone threw a boiled egg at me. Any goodwill I had disappeared. The egg was peeled, and it might have been from a salad. Or, someone boiled and peeled it at home. I’ll never know where it came from.

I often wonder what tourists think when they arrive at the train station in Stratford. They expect a perfect Shakespearean town. They walk past a boarded-up area that has art covering it up. Then, they go down Greenhill Street, which looks old and tired, and vape smoke fills the air near the shops. They then see a noisy group near NatWest. If I were a tourist, I’d turn around.

People suggest solutions to the NatWest group. Some want drug and alcohol support, while others have less kind ideas. My idea is a suction tunnel. It would go from the station to Henley Street and drop tourists near a coffee shop. They could then walk past shops to the theater. People should also go via Sheep Street, because Bridge Street isn’t very appealing.

The city won’t even fix a pothole by my apartment, so my tunnel idea probably won’t happen.