Alfred Kreiner A Day in the Life
Since first arriving in England in the 1950’s from a small village near Bad Radkersburg in South East Austria, Alfred Kreiner has always been a man of routine. He has kept to the same ‘Saturday Routine’ for all these years and has seen a lot of changes in his inhabited city of Saint Albans in Hertfordshire. The city of Saint Albans is a historic Roman city with a beautiful cathedral, Roman ruins and cobbled streets. The old architecture has remained, but Mr. Kreiner explains how the main high street has significantly changed. “I remember when there used to be barely any cars going through the high street and the shops were all selling local produce. Each year I saw more and more cars polluting the high street and then one by one all the old shops, that I loved, were gradually going out of buisness and being replaced with chain stores.” However, there are many
things that remain and continue to be charming aspects of the city: “The market is still here, selling all the lovely fresh bread, meat, fish and vegetables that me and my wife used to come up every Saturday to buy. In summer, we used to take our daughter to the lake to feed the ducks and it’s lovely to see people still doing it with their kids.” Mr. Kreiner now visits the market without his wife, due to her health. His Saturday begins at 7am where he gets up and goes to the corner shop to buy the newspaper. Once back at home, he prepares his breakfast and and reads the newspaper. He will also complete the crossword puzzles. At about 10.30am, Mr. Kreiner then makes his way into the town centre of Saint Albans and heads straight to the market. His first purchases are always from the Bread Stool: he buys two white baguettes
and “Black Bread” or Rye Bread, which reminds him of his childhood in rural Austria. Next, he buys a variety of fruit and vegetables and occassionally some sea food, requested by his wife. After the shopping, Mr. Kreiner takes a stroll up and down the market and then follows a little alley called “French Row” down to the Clock Tower and then to the Saint Albans Abbey Cathedral. There he continues all the way down to Verulamium Park to sit quietly by the lake and watch the world go by for an hour or so before reutrning home. To conclude, even though Saint Albans has changed, Mr. Kreiner, my Grandfather, has still kept his same Saturday routine all these years later and I find it amazing how one can have so many wonderful stories and experiences just from this simple act of routine.
A Day in the Life Photography by Amy Elms