The revival of the top end of town seems to be taking rather longer than it should. I would have thought that the opening of Wilkinson's and B&M in the nicely-built Rawson Quarter should by now have begun to attract more businesses to the empty premises in Rawson Square .

But nothing! And all but one of the smaller units in the new building remain untouched (one is showing signs of shopfitting, which is encouraging).

This part of Bradford surely has lots of potential. The Oastler Centre is thriving.

Wilkinson's and B&M appear to be doing well but I suspect could do even better if it was easier to reach them from the Kirkgate Centre and Darley Street . So why aren't more businesses moving in, particularly to Rawson Square , which could be a very attractive, thriving shopping street?

I reckon that part of the problem is that while Rawson Square is pedestrianised, Godwin Street isn't. With a constant flow of traffic down the top end of Darley Street and along Godwin Street to get to the Kirkgate Centre car park, those who want to cross the road to the Rawson Quarter have to take their lives in their hands.

How much better things might be if Godwin Street was pedestrianised apart from at the Westgate end, where there could be access to the car park, and if that top end of Darley Street was traffic-free as well.

Then people could flow more easily up the town and use the crossings on John Street to get to the Oastler Centre, Morrisons and North Parade, as they do now.

The pedestrianisation of Bradford leaves rather a lot to be desired. Yes, a fair amount of it is now traffic-free - in theory. But there still seem to be quite a lot of vehicles trundling through, unauthorised or not.

And there is still too much of the centre where traffic, rather than shoppers, is allowed to rule the roost.

At present there's not a lot can be done about the bottom end of Godwin Street , which cuts off T J Hughes from the city centre. Until the nettle is grasped and the inner ring road is completed, that's going to remain a problem.

But there are surely other streets which could be closed off and vehicles diverted elsewhere without causing major traffic-flow problems, to make shopping in Bradford a more relaxed affair over a wider area.

A sorry sign...

And now, seeing it's getting near Christmas, let's have a heart-warming tale about someone doing the decent thing. It was told to me by a reader and concerns "a mature lady" who was involved in a roar accident. Someone, in fact, smashed into the rear of her car.

In a state of shock, she turned off the main road and managed to drive home, where she found an alarming degree of damage to the vehicle.

She took herself off to her local police station where, she says, "I found a young man reporting an accident and from what he was saying I knew it was my car. So I interrupted the conversation and found this was indeed so."

As the police took details of the accident, the lady shook the hand of the young man ("I felt like hugging him" she said) and told him "You have restored my faith in young male drivers".

She says: "That young man did the decent thing and needs to be praised highly. So many would have driven away laughing. His parents must be very proud of him."

A nice story. But isn't it a sorry sign of the times that someone doing the decent thing is so exceptional that it's considered worth writing to the newspapers about?

Eggs-asperating

What's happened to all the eggs with white shells? They seem to be the only sort you can't get hold of nowadays. Perhaps they've fallen from fashion.

Once upon a time there were only two sorts of eggs - brown or white. The decision was an easy one. But now, among the ubiquitous brown-shelled eggs that occupy many yards of super mark et shelves, there's a bewildering choice.

There are farm eggs and barn eggs. There are free-range eggs and organic free-range eggs.

There are eggs from hens fed on feed rich in Omega 3 fish oil. There are medium-sized eggs, large eggs and extra-large eggs (what about small eggs? ). And there are duck eggs for those who want a rather different flavour.

Small wonder that shopping's a slow job when you have to decide which of that lot you're going to have. And that's even before you move along to the three aisles containing the breakfast cereals!

Puzzle of panto

The best of luck to Lesley Joseph and the rest of this year's cast as they start their Alhambra panto season. They're continuing a long and glorious tradition for Bradford and, indeed, for Britain .

In fact there are very few other countries which understand pantomime. Canada and Australia are the main ones, apparently.

Visitors from elsewhere tend to look totally baffled if taken to a theatrical production in which the plot is loosely based on a fairy story, some members of the cast cross-dress, the script includes cheeky double entendres and jokey references to TV soaps, there's slapstick comedy and romantic singing, and handfuls of sweets are hurled out into the audience who hiss and boo the baddy and shout out such things as "Oh yes it is!" and "It's behind you!".

Who can blame them?