The Dark Orange Vans that Heralded a New Dawn

Hurley vans and employees at Bridgend

I was at a hospital today in Swansea, meeting some of the surgical team who will be cutting, trimming, fixing and generally re-arranging my innards in the very near future, and what a wonderful breed of people those health care professionals are!

Truly the Hippocratic Oath is a wonderful thing.

On my way down some stairs a dark orange colour caught my eye in the bottom corner of a window, and straight away one word sprang to my lips: HURLEY!

Sure enough on peering at the window there it was, emblazoned across the distinctive orange coloured van, the name Hurley.

The years fell away, a strange mist filled the air and eerie stringed music filtered in (sorry - too many cheesy Hollywood films) and I was propelled back to a scene in High School, circa 1984 and there, trudging betwixt one lesson and the next, cutting across a patch of badly worn grass called 'the Cabbage Patch' (the teachers tried to stop pupils cutting across it from time to time, but the weight of sheer numbers usually made them give up after a week's diligence and effort) were many pupils.

There I was in turn, a studious teenage student, clutching my learnéd tomes, eager to reach the next valuable intake of knowledge and wisdom, busily straightening my tie whilst engaging in some playful badinage with my peers, when what should chug cheerily into view from the nearby school gates but a dark orange van with bold white letters spelling out the name: HURLEY.

A smile spread across my face as I pointed this marvel out to my friends and acquaintances. My empire was spreading. My world was complete. I felt like an ancient king being carried to a regal engagement in my plush sedan chair.

And ever since that fateful day, I have always felt a warm glow and a sense of well-being whenever I have seen those self-same Hurley vans at locations right across South Wales.

Link:
F P Hurley & Sons Ltd

O'Hurley's General Store, WV, USA

This is O'Hurley's General Store in West Virginia, USA.

It looks like everything you'd want in an old fashioned general store!

I can almost imagine 'the man with no name' moseying on up to get some beef jerky.

A person on flickr says:

This is a very interesting place. On Thursday nights, they have local musicians playing some great music.

On Yelp someone else says:

Lots of unique items. Collectors may find things like old signs. You can get some hardware that would be used in "century old" type homes. I also think their furniture, which is vintage country, is reasonably priced.

We are planning to build on our lot nearby in WVa in the next year or so, and will be returning here to pick up some items to decorate our home.

Their own website (see below) is run by one Jay Hurley.

Seems like everything you'd want in a real American/Southern General Store. Yee ha!

Now all I need is a sponsored family holiday so we can go visit... ;-)

Link:
O'Hurley's General Store