A Pessimist: Fenton Bloody Manor

Fenton Manor seems to be the bane of my life at the moment. Whenever I go there, bad things happen.

On Monday I went up there to film a news package. (The story being that they’ve introduced parking charges and leisure users aren’t happy.) As you can see from the map below, on foot, the sports complex from campus is a bit of trek.

My lengthy route

Having a heavy tripod on your back and a camera over your shoulder doesn’t make the journey any easier. To add insult to injury, it was raining, so whilst I wanted to wear a coat to protect me from the elements, the heat my body was producing through this endurance challenge was causing me to sweat rather a lot. A classic catch 22 situation. Things couldn’t get much worse really.  Or could they? Turns out, they definitely could.

There’s no need for me to go into any vast detail, as my good friend Matthew Payne has done the typing for me. Check out his blog for an extensive commentary of what happened.

That palaver was followed by me desperately roaming their car park in search of people willing to give Vox pops on the parking charges, which, in the wind and rain proved a difficult task. It was safe to say that filming at Fenton was not my favourite journalistic moment...

Despite my recent bad experience with the centre, I do actually love its pool. So today, once again, I embarked on the laborious walk up there, hoping that a nice relaxing swim would make the trek worthwhile. Got there, only to discover that the pool was closed to the public as there was a gala on.

I'm scared to go back there, who knows what might go wrong next!? If I go for a swim and my Nan’s cat dies I’ll never forgive myself!

At least by not wanting to go to Fenton Manor, I can jump on the band wagon and complain about the recent closure of Shelton Pool.

That’s right, during my week as a pessimist all potential ‘moan topics’ are welcomed!