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The Parade, High Street, WATFORD, WD17 1BA

The pedestrianised north-western end of Watford's High Street features this ornamental pond. Note the heron quite oblivious to its urban surroundings.

This notice has been erected by Watford Borough Council in front of the pond in The Parade, High Street. It has the following wording: Please don't feed the ducks Bread is not their natural diet and makes them ill. It drives them quackers and turns the water green. That wording may have been written tongue-in-cheek, but is still important to note all the same.

This is the site of the Odeon cinema in Watford High Street, pictured here http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=108332&index=0&form=advanced&county=HERTFORDSHIRE&district=WATFORD&collection=John%20Maltby in 1937 in the John Maltby collection. I can find very little online about the history of this cinema but 'The Book of Watford' published by J B Nunn in 1992 has the following entry - "The first building of the super cinema era was the Plaza by the Pond, opened in April 1929. It was taken over by the Odeon circuit and renamed in October 1936, closed in November 1963 and was demolished to make way for a ground-floor supermarket and Top Rank Suite." This renaming would seem to account for the name of the café next door in the 1937 photograph, the cinema only having changed hands around 3 months before John Maltby's photograph was taken. One wonders if they ever got around to changing it to the Odeon café. The building is still recognisable and now houses an estate agency. The Albions descended on Watford in 1981 by which time both the supermarket and Top Rank were things of the past and the present building was occupied by Bailey's nightclub. The nightclub has had several incarnations since that time having become Paradise Lost, Kudos and then Destiny before a major revamp in 2008, reopening in September of that year as part of the Oceana chain of nightclubs.

Watford High Street is pedestrianised. A pond has been created at the northern end of the street.

The snow has built up on the north side of the lamppost, the trees, the seats and the litter bin but not on the ground.

Looking northwest over The Pond towards the Town Hall (not in sight). The Pond, frequented by a heron which appears completely unfazed by the passing public, has been in existence, although with many transformations, for centuries.

Watford Town Hall was completed in 1939 and incorporated the Town Hall Assembly Rooms. In 1995 the assembly rooms were renamed the Colosseum and the building can be seen here from across Rickmansworth Road. The grey brick and glass facade is part of an extension completed in 2011.

Yes, this is a urinal. The circular outline in the foreground is the roof of a pop-up urinal, one of two installed in Watford town centre for the purpose of reducing the necessity to use shop doorways after a night on the - er - town. Apparently they rise up at around 8pm on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays and sink at about 7 or 8am the following morning. I have no idea where the controller with, presumably, a remote is located but the command centre must surely be in contact with the CCTV operators to ensure no-one is standing on the pod when it pops up. My sources tell me that the arrival of these structures has had no discernible effect on the peeing habits of the revellers as, although they are strategically placed close to the main watering holes, they are so discreet (the urinals that is, not the merrymakers) that they are rarely noticed and the few punters who do spot them think they are drinking fountains. Judge for yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8iR3pgt37I On a more serious note, no similar provision has been made for the ladies who still have to find a dark alley for a moment's privacy - not a very safe option.