We've all seen the adverts and all want to splash out on a yummy burger and fries.  I can't help myself, I'd do anything for a McChicken Sandwich Meal and a McFlurry.  I was in there earlier on... not just ordering, but also trying to find out when the Creme Egg McFlurry is available.  I love Easter... and McDonalds.

The blog though, before I forget my point.  On the adverts, they have a promise where they clean up the areas around their restaurants.  Unfortunately for our Worksop drive-thru, it couldn't be any worse.  The path down the side of McDonalds has rubbish everywhere, it's disgusting.  I don't want to have a go at McDonalds though really, it's one of my favourite fast food places.  I want to have a go at the people who make the mess, dropping litter everywhere on their walk home from the restaurant, thinking people will clean up after them.  McDonalds aren't able to keep up with the dirty scruffy gits dropping rubbish everywhere, so on this occasion the big corporations get off, and it comes down to the people who eat there.  EAT YOUR FOOD AND USE A DAMN BIN!

Sainsburys is next door to McDonalds and there's plastic bags all stuck in the surrounding bushes, obviously dropped by the customers because they have no sense of what a bin is.  I've seen it myself, people dropping litter when there's a bin just a few meters away.  Some people should be ashamed of themselves.

Don't rely on the companies to clean up after you, please use a bin.  It's not even hard to carry a cup or a small bag home and use your own bins.  Keep Britain tidy!

I think with many more people from Worksop, I saw the Worksop episode of Coppers.  A lot of people in my town don't like the Police force, even I've had a few words to say about their conduct in the past, but some of the officers do a fine job as we saw on the 23rd of January 2012 episode of Coppers, viewed on Channel 4.

It's nice to see Worksop on TV, I just wish it'd be in a better light.  I saw a lot of people abusing benefits, drug addicts, drunks, and neighbours having problems where the only problem is communication.  I think overall, my town has people with problems just because of that one significant word... COMMUNICATION.  From neighbours at war over nothing, drug addicts and drunks who wouldn't be in their state if it weren't for bad education, and thieves who just need to realise they could have had potential in their lives if they'd have just thought about their future properly.  Lack of communication in our society, and not just Worksop, but the whole country and world over, is a key problem.  The only reason things are bad is because of mis-education and people not talking to each other.

The child who beat up his mother, that is something that was solved, and hopefully will remain solved, thanks to PC Steve Porter.  He's very good.  He did exactly what I would have done, telling the mother to be quiet when she wasn't helping matters shouting at her son.  In the long term, parents are to blame for not communicating with their children.  You see it in the streets all the time.. child screaming, mother smacking them and saying 'shut up', child screams more, mother walks off and ignores them or smacks them again.  It makes me sick!  IIf every parent got on eye level with their child, spoke to them with respect to solve any problems, then maybe the child won't remember these days and hit their mum when they're old enough.  Are there any parents reading this who hit their children and don't talk to them enough?  Think about what I'm saying then, have patience with your kids and the rewards in the future will be amazing.  It's no good sticking your 8 year old in front of a TV so they can play Grand Theft Auto all day and learn bad things, get them a Nintendo DS instead of buying cigarettes and you can both play Brain Training together and learn something!

PC Steve Porter also said what I did about the couple who didn't want to have a meeting with their neighbours.  I can understand where they're coming from, but once again, they didn't want to communicate in a controlled meeting.  I said myself that if they call the Police, the officers should just leave it.. only go after they've had a meeting if things carry on.  It's no good keep dragging the Police out when they refuse to take a leap of faith and sort out any real issues.

There's a lot of disrespect in our town.  I think quite a few youngsters need to look in the mirror before they decide to be a sheep around the bad popular kid just to try and stand out.  Seriously, it doesn't work.  In my own personal experience, I told the kids when I was at school to, erm, go away.  That's putting it in a polite way.  I was offered drugs twice by people I thought weren't that bad, and the last friend I had from school, I didn't hang out with him anymore when he came out with 'Let's steal a car and go joyriding'.  I took a lot of time out then from people to understand what was wrong with the world.  I never took drugs, and when it comes to alcohol I've only ever been tipsy.  I quote Elizabeth Swann from the original Pirates movie.. 'because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels'.  That is so true.  I've never seen the point in losing your mind over a drug, and because of my life choices, I sit here typing a blog about my town on Coppers, rather than sitting in a pool of my own vomit, wondering how many more benefits I can claim to feed a habit.  I only wish other people could have made the same choices as me, I'm quite sure I could have a lot more local friends if people had just recieved the correct education, had goood parents like I have, and just thought about their future a little bit more.  I do consider myself very lucky for the things I have, but it was also because I knew the evils of the world would ruin my life, and I'd rather have decent clean friends who think the same as I do.  Still, I have my habits, swearing probably being my worst, but I'd rather say the F word than experience what an E does.

The sad thing that Coppers revealed, we're surrounded by people who'll never get cleaned up, who don't want to be clean, and it disgusts me that I have to share the same air as these people.  Danny Wilson, as much as I feel sorry for the bloke, he's a mess and will never have anything to give back to the community.  You know, I'm sure I went to school with him?  It might be cruel and wrong to say, but some people on this planet need a lethal injection, not just to help other people, but to help the person who's dying.  What a miserabe life some of these people have, is it right to let them suffer as Danny Wilson is?  That's a strong controversial debate but I'm not the only one to say it, and I am stating what most people are thinking anyway.

I enjoyed this episode of Coppers, seeing some of the Worksop sights in the background of a few scum bags.  Now we need a documentary filmed in Worksop with a positive light.  I actually challenge any decent folk in Worksop to go out and film the town, tallk about past experiences, the history of Worksop, anything.  In fact, record new things being built like the cinema and the new Tesco.. though I'll probably be covering the new Tesco myself.  It'd be nice not to be thought of as a member of a failed town, some positive light is definitely needed to put us on the good community map again.

To the officers featured on Coppers, fine job.  Keep up the good work.  I have hopes that Worksop will improve over the next few years, even with the budget cuts in all sectors.  Worksop is a fine little place only ruined with the repuation it's getting for drug addicts, violence caused by alcohol, and young people who haven't had the right respect from their families so think it's fine to go out and shout abuse at innocent people.  I think it can get better before it gets any worse.  I have faith in Worksop.

Since nipping into town one day in late November 2011, the old Marshalls shop at 26-28 Bridge Place, Worksop, has had its alarm going off.  It's nearly mid-January, and it's not stopped yet.  Isn't there anyone who can go in and turn it off?

If there's anything in there, anyone could go in and nick it because the alarm means nothing now.  It's a bad thing which makes other alarms irrelevant, so if any shops in the area get broken into, they'll just be ignored won't they?  So someone needs to go in, turn the bloody thing off, and we can all have some peace as we go into town.

Also, while I'm doing this blog, the shop next door, what's going on with that?  It's been closed for years.  It's about time someone splashes some money in there and makes a decent little shop, maybe a shop for geeks and sell some manga.  I think a shop like Patriot Games in Sheffield would be nice, open the old Marshall's shop and Inkcraft together, give the town a gaming store.  I'm not sure if it'd do any good in Worksop, but I've never seen the point in stores closing down half the time.  The council should be helping small businesses and cutting taxes, and stopping people 'To Letting' places with stupid fees.  In fact, a lot of these people who own buildings, ripping people off by renting them out, they should be ashamed of themselves.  Everyone cares about money, nobody cares about having a town they can be proud of.

Tesco could boost their business by helping small businesses, but instead, they open their own little stores and make it so the real people can't do anything for themselves.  They employ people who should be running businesses for themselves, and then they get treated as just another number instead of someone that matters.  The problem with industry all over the world, big companies treat the person at the bottom like dirt.  I think one of the only companies around who has helped a lot of people with their own businesses is Virgin.. and then the UK government skank every penny they can in taxes.  So, closed shops earning nothing, keeping people out of work, it makes no sense.

Anyway, turn that bloody alarm off!

The other day, I went to a place called... The Shops.  A strange new world where you can buy Pizza, DVD's, and even place a bet and lose hard earned money.  Alright, I'm talking crap, I'm only making this blog because I'd never properly been to this shopping area on Raymoth Lane, which is nicely placed next to Gateford Road.  I am impressed.

There's a good variety of stores, a lot more than I thought, and a good place for all the new houses built around the area.  You can find Asda, a chippy, Domino's expensive pizza, Fulton's, a bookies to waste your cash, a pub to get drunk in, Cooplands, an oriental cuisine place which I'd have tried if it were open, and let's not forget there's a Tesco there too.

To be serious, the place is really clean, plenty of parking, and essential if you like gambling and buying chips.. and oriental food if the place had an open sign.  I'll probably go and film something for my Worksop videos soon and view the area with more open opinion.  Then I'll make another video in 10 years and see if they kept it clean, or if the place gets full of chavs playing loud music in their cars, from 2pm onwards.

I do like the area though, and not a boarded up shop in sight.  Let's hoope it stays this way.

As usual on Boxing Day every year, I avoid the masses at Meadowhall and nip into my own town of Worksop to see what deals are going on.  Not a lot, I think most shops stay shut because they can't afford to pay their staff, and because Meadowhall, Sheffield, Mansfield or Nottingham are better and bigger places to shop for sales, there's not much point in opening.  Even Tesco doesn't open on Boxing Day in Worksop.  But if everyone in Worksop dived into town for Boxing Day, things might change in the future.. and a few shops might not close down in January!

I nipped into town anyway, it is a tradition.  It's peaceful and quiet.  I miss the days when Dixons and Woolworths were there, who'd always have a bargain on games and I'd guarantee spending some of my Christmas money on a new video game.. for my Super Nintendo.  That's right, there's not been a lot to buy since the 90's, and with both said shops closing down, all I get to go to is Grainger Games and Game Station, and of course Poundland but they don't do offers lower than a quid.

Argos was open.. I bought a small shelf.

Grainger didn't have the games I wanted, and Game Station had a few but the one that stood out was Condemned 2 for the Xbox 360, that cost me just £2.98, but I think it was probably that price anyway?  I remember when Game Station first opened, their first Boxing Day sales were awesome, half priced new games were on offer and I picked up some bargains, that's what Boxing Day sales are all about.  Not anymore, no wonder everyone buggers off to Meadowhall.

Next year will be the same though.  I'll nip into town, check the games shops, come home with at least one game I found that was dirt cheap, and leave it for another year.  But the walk into town, the feel of the atmosphere and empty streets, it's all good.  I wouldn't change that for the world.

Photo: Gateford Road, Worksop, looking towards town.  It's probably the most peaceful you'll see all year.

Welcome to the new Worksop blogs.  This will be a more regular blog about Worksop on Tonyo Times, including photos, and you can also watch videos on the Tonyo Times and Team Times YouTube channels from 2012.

I did make one blog about Worksop back in 2010, discussing McDonalds which sits there in the town, closed, going to waste.  Funny thing is, it's still closed as I type this.  The place has a lot of potential so I don't know why it's still shut and not being used.  Are the rates too high?  Is the building dangerous?  I'd like to know.

I'll be covering a few things as time goes by and mentioning a few pieces from the Worksop Guardian newspaper from time to time, so I'm building up a litttle history of my town.  I'll probably get slated for my opinions but all in all, I want what's best for Worksop, and I hate to see people treating it like dirt.

Thanks for reading, I hope you stick with me, I'm writing a lot more about Worksop from next year.

It's been many years since we had a McDonalds restaurant in Worksop.  The drive-through McDonalds opened on the outskirts of town (near Sainsbury's) and they decided to close the one which mattered more.
  Over the years, I've just felt like a milkshake or a burger.  Fair do, there's plenty of places to eat, but McDonalds is one of those junk food places that just puts a smile on your face until you're hungry again.  Admitted, you don't get a great deal for your money and it's definitely junk food, but it's a nice treat.  Not everyone can be bothered to travel way out to the drive-through.
  Since it closed in town, the building has been a number of things trying to better McDonalds.  All have failed and now we're stuck with a place that's empty and has wires hanging from the ceiling.  The council needs to put the rates down on the place and let someone with a good business sense to open it up and create something good for Worksop, and create opportunities for people.  It's in a main area and yet it's closed, and along with a lot of other shops that are shut in Worksop, it just continues to make the town residents feel sad to know Worksop isn't what it once was.