The “Downtown” of Ipswich

I love my dear old Granddad but a sista’s gotta get out this house! But where do I go?

I decided to go to “town.”  The last time I was here, back in 2008(shout out to Genean), I got some great buys at the ‘shops’ in town.  I was hoping I’d have the same luck.

So, that was the plan.  Go to town.  “Hmm…why not walk,” I thought. “Oh, what is it… about 15-20 minutes.  That shouldn’t be bad.”  WRONG!  It took me about 30-40 minutes.  To most, that might not seem that bad. To someone that has been sitting on her ‘bum’ all summer and hasn’t done much exercise, it was painful.

I made the most of it and decided to take pictures along the way.

For some reason this row of trees caught my eye.  Something about the way they are growing from the ground.  They’re sort of on a slant.DSC05402

The tree up close.  I have no idea what that was growing on it.

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Here is the ’round about’ that is so common in England.  It’s amazing to see the cars going around and through it.   I don’t understand when they know it’s their turn to go.  Notice, there is no traffic light.  

Aaahh, town…FINALLY!DSC05340

Oh shoot, look what I ran into.  A beauty supply store!  It came just in time.  This weather has my hair looking rachet! This store was on point too.  They had hair oils that I haven’t been able to find in the US. DSC05322

As I walk deeper into town, I took pictures of the different ‘shops’ that I’d seen that surprised me.

Shout out to Tomeka…DSC05329

Had to stop at this Jamaican Snack Shop to pick up a beef pattie.  DSC05324

This isn’t a shop but it’s a beautiful church

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China man food…in Ipswich.  I shan’t be trying that. DSC05328

Here’s one of the roundabout signs you’ll see in England.  DSC05330

Can’t go anywhere without a Fried Chicken spot.DSC05331

These people were loud and out of control.

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So…here I am at the end of the block.  And I realized I had to get to this brown building.  Ummm…how??  There was no crosswalk.  I asked a man that was walking by.  He told me to use…  This is a tunnel I had to use to get across the street.  I understand why it’s there but I know I wouldn’t want to walk down there when it’s dark.

Brown building…DSC05336

Entrance to tunnel…DSC05337

Of course there’s a nail salon…DSC05338

Now that I’ve reached town…first stop, Marks and Spencer.  This place reminds me of Lord and Taylor except it has a supermarket.  It had the BEST apple turnovers which is my favorite pastry.

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Aaahh, Primark.  I’d heard about this store through a Vlogger on Youtube.  This place kind of reminded me of Forever 21.  I got a CUTE green (y’all know I like my bright colors) dress, a sweater and some accessories.

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Then I went to the most adorable store called Accessorize.  I bought some heart earrings with the matching necklace.

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I did some thrift shopping.  I got a beautiful snake skinned bag and a beach back for 6 pounds total which is $10.

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So there’s lots of Casino’s in the middle of the town too which I found to be strange.DSC05414

Lunch break… Where do you think I stopped?

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Yep I went all the way to Ipswich, England and decided to eat McD’s.  I got a Mediterranean chicken sandwich.  It was on point too.

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Final stop, T.K. Maxx.  I was spending too much money.  They had the most beautiful leather bags! I bought some shoes, a sweater and another bag.

 

 

 

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Random pics as I walk back to the bus.

 

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Seems so empty, right?

 

 

 

 

 

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So there you have it…my shopping trip to town.  Just to give an idea of what it was like walking around.  It was extremely quiet. No loud talking at all.  The most you’d hear was kids laughing and your footsteps.  I caught the bus back to my Granddad’s house.  I was so tired!

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