Two left shoes...for six months

The Cock Inn, Brent Eleigh

I had reason to step into the Cock Inn in Brent Eleigh this morning and was pleased to meet a congenial group of gentlemen in the bar, one of whom was known to me, and who were kind enough to buy me a drink,

We were discussing the vexed quesion of local transport....or the lack of it.  There is, apparently, now a bus to Bury St Edmunds on a Wednesday that stops close to the village giving residents two hours in the town on market day.  That, however is the extent of it.

One of our number told the following story:-

When he arrived in the village thirty years ago he knew an elderly woman who had lived there all her life.  She claimed that in the past her family had only gone to Sudbury twice a year to buy clothes and that was all.  On one occasion she had been given two left footed shoes, and had been obliged to walk around in them until, six months later, the twice yearly trip to the bright lights of Sudbury came around once again.

In those days of course much of the food that would have been on her table would have been home grown, available locally, or brought round by various merchants door to door.  This has changed over the years, although growing your own, and sourcing locally is making a comeback.  In addition the increase in home delivery services from the supermarkets, most or all of which I am sure deliver to Brent Eleigh, means that perhaps a more settled and way of life is coming round again,

This is not just because of the paucity of public transport for those who, for whatever reason do not have a car, and cannot, or have no wish to, ride a bike.  Even if you do have a car, the cost of petrol and sometimes environmental concerns,  mean that, increasingly, you think twice about using it.