h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Probably the closest mall to my humble abode.

It's a fair size consisting of three levels, the top-most level being home to a bewildering array of food outlets. There are television monitors hooked up to music channels which, much to my relief when I last went, played VH1 Classic.

The usual shops you'd expect to find are here; HMV, Virgin, Game, Debenhams and most of the clothes shops of which I don't know the name because I'm not fashion conscious. There is a small amusement arcade and comic shop, which includes, amongst comics, a noble band of comic geeks who are quite happy to debate how much better the original Godzilla was compared to the Hollywood Godzilla.

You may also be pleased to know that, along with the Warner cinema, is a Warner shop where you can buy all sorts of gubbins, including animation cells. Yippee!

As with most malls there are fountains which people, for some unexaplanable reason, like to throw coins in and various benches/leaflets/maps etc. There are a couple of gadget shops and a few areas for stages and events. The Dale Winton extravaganza, "Touch the Truck" was hosted here, but I missed it.

Down Brompton Walk, a long walkway off the main body of the mall, is a host of odd shops that sell wigs. This, in turn, lead to a "market" style area that sells an odd array of rugs, movie posters, trading cards, sweets and a lot of African erotic art.

As you could probably tell by the name, Lakeside sits next to a dirty great big lake where lots of ducks swim and you can learn to scuba dive.

For your automobile storing needs, is a large, multistorage car park, extraordinarily enough.

One other thing that pops to mind is the retail park near-by, that has lots of large stores, such as PC World and the always grammatically inconsistant, Toys "R" Us. You can't get to the retail park from the mall area, you have to drive out and maneouvre around the roundabouts that seem forever to be under construction.

That's all I can think of. Feel free to add/correct the passage.

Oh, has anyone been to the cinema at Bluewater? Apparently, paying a bit more than usual, you get large sofas and sandwiches and waiters and the such. Can anyone verify this?

Oh, I almost forgot. Lakeside was the setting for the fly-on-the-wall documentary, imaginatively titled "Lakesiders" that followed people around with cameras, boom mikes and high hopes of an exciting time.

Lakeside is my local shopping centre as well, but I only venture there if I want to buy something. The main benefit is that most of the shops are large ones, and that it has a Woolworths.

You can also go for a bit of a cruise on the lake, in those swan boat things, but I've never seen anyone on there, and there is a boat where you can go and have a good meal, and a drink. It's not a bad centre, but I'm not sure I'd label it 'great'.

There's also a UCI cinema on the retail park, although that's getting a bit tired now, as it's been there for over a decade.

Ten years!? Wowee. How long has the centre itself been there?

er, about the same. I remember using the cinema in 1989 when the whole area was being developed.

This is my local shopping centre now. To be honest I am not too keen on it. Its full of over- priced shops.This centre is built for car drivers, the bus service is awful. As for the lake for scuba diving it doesnt look too clean to me. Generally the shops in Essex seem to me to be charging too much, elsewhere in the country similar items are far cheaper.