I seem to have drifted off the random tour of the UK I was doing by bouncing from code to code.

Time, I think, to start again.

The format is simple. I generate a list of postcodes by using the ones from orders in the shop and find out something interesting about them.

It’s a simple idea for a series of posts, and doubly attractive because there’s nothing to go wrong. There’s no politics, no religion and no potential for causing offence…

Sorry, I had to pause for a moment and laugh there. Why is it that every time I make a statement like that a massive list of possibilities spring to mind? I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this. As soon as I make a statement like that the synapses start fizzing like firecrackers and parts of my brain which have been  not seen use since Lambley Jack was a lad have started creaking into motion.

What is it about not wanting to say things that brings them up to the front of your mind?

Anyway – today’s postcodes are SS17, CV3 and DY11. If memory serves me right that’s Southend, Coventry and Dudley, so we’re in for a treat.

SS17 is indeed a Southend -on-Sea postcode. In fact it is the final postcode in the Southend series. We went to Southend last year to visit the pier. (Sorry about the small Southend content in those links, I obviously tried to blank it out). In an ideal world we won’t need to go back. It’s infested with speed cameras and the doughnuts are expensive.

SS17 is actually Stanford-le-Hope, which, Wiki tells me, includes Mucking and Fobbing. These seem more like rural pastimes than villages. AS for Mucking Flats, which sounds like a Spoonerism but is actually a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the mind boggles. Joseph Conrad lived and wrote in Stanford. I’ve only read one of his books – Nostromo. We had to do it at school. I thought it was dreadful and despite his reputation as a great writer I’ve never gone back to him. I’ve just been reading reviews on a book site and I’m not the only one to think this, though I am in a minority.

CV3 includes a lot of reasonably prosperous Coventry suburbs. I’ve driven through the area many times on the way to various places including Broadstreet Rugby Club. Number One Son played there once when his team made it through to the final stages of the National Colts Competition and I have to say that it had far better facilities than Nottingham RFC. Nottingham, however, despite failing on the facilities and social side, plays in the Championship, which is three levels higher than Broadstreet. It’s one of those perennial questions – if you have kids who want to play rugby are you better with  ateam linked to a professional club or one with a great social set-up and facilities? Or, after multiple visits to Accident and Emergency, are you better playing a less brutal sport?

DY11 is Dudley postcode area – though it is mainly Kidderminster rather than Dudley. Kidderminster is chiefly noted for making carpets. It has a carpet museum. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Kidderminster but now I know it has a carpet museum I’m finding it hard not to plan a visit.

Just a short tour today, but plenty more to come…