IN BETWEEN catching up on the fine weather jobs, I have been reading a book, The Death Of A Town.

No, it’s not about Swindon but perhaps one could say the Swindon I knew as a child died years ago.

My own description of modern Swindon is not about dying, more like an unwanted multiple birth.

Wherever you go they are building and expanding the town. Where will it all end I ask myself?

It was a pleasure to see the Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to the town met with so many happy faces.

However, my heart sinks when I see the beautiful fields, adjacent to Waitrose, being dug up and lost for good.

Many the frosty morning I would run across country down the country lanes where Waitrose now stands, only the cows and the odd pheasant for company.

Then, on a summer afternoon my buddies and I would explore those fields and learn more about nature than we ever did at school.

Now, having limited hearing, I am getting more dependent on reading people’s lips.

I may be mistaken, but I am sure I saw the Duchess of Cornwall say, when she got back to the safety of her limousine. “Blast! I came without my Waitrose card and missed out on my free cup of latte!”

WILLIAM ABRAHAM Rodbourne, Swindon