ODD OUNDLE 10 – BUT IN A GOOD WAY

Something very unpleasant often sweeps over people put in control of cars: they can so easily become what my Mother would have called ‘Little Hitlers’. In Oundle we have some on-street parking and a lot of double-yellow lines, two long-stay parks that are quite a shlep from the town centre and one that is very central and hence very popular. It is next to the Co-op supermarket so for people needing one stop shopping this car park is the one of choice.

To help maximise the use made of this car-park we have a Car-Park Supervisor. Not a nasty little twerp whose main delight lies in issuing tickets – but DEBORAH who makes it her business to know where the vacant spaces are and to guide incomers to them. This requires her to keep on her feet in her constant surveillance, to check with people walking into the park to see if they are about to collect their car and leave and to advise incoming drivers whether they should hover about until that red car leaves (‘They won’t be long, they’re just leaving the Co-op’) or where there is a space that’s hidden by a larger car or whether, because the place is log-jammed, they’d be better off taking another turn around town looking for alternative parking. Deborah puts her heart and soul into her job. She is more hostess than supervisor in my opinion.

And what makes it even better, even odder, is that most of the time Deborah is cheerful and welcoming. Park in a forbidden place and she will get serious, overstay your two-hour max slot and you might get a ticket but for most of the good people of Oundle Deborah is an asset to be appreciated.

I took this picture this morning when the monthly Farmers’ Market crowd converged with the pre-Christmas crowd and the traffic was hell (by Oundle standards anyway). Deborah was there to sort out the confusion, bless her! She was at the time shifting a shopping trolley that some idiot had left in the way. You can't see it but she is wearing a hat that says Ho! Ho! Ho!