So many panniers, so little time ...

I looked in the garage, and I have quite a few panniers :-)
They are all mine (all mine!), and I have bought them at various times from various suppliers, paying the "normal" price for them - if I bought them on "clearance", you could have at that time as well!
So none of your dubious "infotainment" reviews here - just a normal chap with normal bike luggage!

I performed to "capacity" test on my pannier selection - first with the box from a pair of Caterpillar boots (US size 12, UK size 11, Euro size 46, i think. I'm not too good on Euro sizes!).
And it is a pair of boots (work boot style, not knee-boots!), rather than shoes, so it is quite a large shoe-box.
Then I did a test to see how my cycle helmet fitted. It is a large/extra-large size (I have a big head as well as big feet!, but hey, I am almost as tall as John Wayne, so I'm not a little guy!)

As I run through each pannier, I will highlight a few of the features of it, and how much I paid and stuff like that, and what I think is the best and worst features of each etc. etc.
So, off we go!

Fitting cheap front pannier racks

Just three pounds (about 5 dollars) gets me this pair of front pannier frames on "clearance".

They attach to the fork and the mudguard/fender
mount.

Hope they don't get in the way of my quick-release!
I usually "fold" it down over the mudguard/fender mount!

What's in the packet - 8 bolts, 6 "nyloc" anti-vibration nuts, 2 spacer tubes, 2 pannier frames, two curved "clamp" pieces for the front fork, and a single-sided A4 instruction sheet.
The anti-vibration nuts are particularly impressive at this price point.

A bike is handy for errands in town

Cleanliness is next to Godliness - yep, the laundrette (laundromat) really is next to a church.
(the building in the middle is also part of the church complex)

Anna has just washed one of our duvets in the laundrette (laundromat).
the taxi is about to cross behind Anna, but as she is still on the other end of the crossing at that time, it is against the law, and the driver will be liable for a £60 ($100) ticket if caught.

the damp duvet goes back on Anna's bike

I have most of the groceries on my bike - we popped to the store while the duvet was getting washed

Up the hill towards home ...

Nice wide cycle path near our home.

A few hours later I was out on the bike again - John Lewis sent me a "text" to say that my parcel was waiting at our local Waitrose store.
I parked Mermaid out front of the store, next to a rather nice "Giant" bike.
For those who don't know, Waitrose is the "supermarket" part of John Lewis, which is otherwise a chain of department stores, and is also one of the two largest worker-controlled businesses in the UK - the other is the Co-op, from who we buy our electricity heating gas.
Social awareness kudos to us, for both our  home energy supplies and today's purchase, methinks :-)

the bike parking is by the theatre (to the right), as well as near
Wautrose (at the back, behind the trees)

The new university campus that is being
built is coming along nicely

Despite being fairly central, land is still being efficiently used. The green space between the seating and bike parking and the store behind is actually part of a flood protection scheme (the canal is right behind the store), so it provides a "quality" landscape, while serving a direct economic purpose (flood control!).
Waitrose has a multi-level car park on top of it, and behind the store is a motel (Travelodge), which is also above the store at the back. the parking tends to be used by shoppers in the day, and by the motel users and/ot theatre goers in the evening
(the theatre is out of shot to the right).
The slightly larger than life size "seated" statue is of a fairly famous actor who "cut his teeth" in provincial theatre in our town back in 1948. It is of Ronnie Barker (for those of you old enough to remember him - he was VERY popular in the 1970's and 1980's on television in the UK. His career was both before and after that, but I remember him from the "Two Ronnies", "Porridge", and "Open All Hours", but I suspect my father remembers him from "the Frost Report" from the 1960's.

Anyway, box collected, and it is time to go home

Even the County Council is in a compact building, even though
we are only a modest provincial town, not a city.
At the front is offices and the reference library on top,
at the back is the main council tower block. To the right is the
public lending library (the corner of the building about makes the shot) with more offices above, while to the left (out of shot) is the Registrar Office, where Anna and I got married, and even that has offices above and below it ...

Part of the "High Street" ("Main Street") is pedestrianised.
For a while there were fancy automatic bollards that went up and down to admit authorised users, but the system was plagues with breakdowns, so a more simple system is currently in use. The yellow bollard is locked into place each morning at the start of the "restricted" period, and removed each evening at the end. Delivery vehicles have to make their calls rather early or rather late, or move the stuff into the restricted area on a trolley. Safe shoppers think more about buying stuff, and less about the vehicles that would otherwise be whizzing behind them - so goes the theory about pedestrianisation. Folks just prefer to shop in nicer places, so we give them nicer places in our town!

Even I have my shorts on for this second trip.
Which reminds me - I must get a new bell!

Safely home - a new camera for Anna.