HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

New Year's Resolutions

1. Blog a little more often
2. Apologise for not blogging so often
3. Do everything else I meant to do this time last year but somehow never quite got round to it but never mind, here's another chance to pretend it was all meant to wait until the right moment, and here it is.
4. Only blog interesting stuff.

So that's at least one resolution broken then...

Anyway, here's wishing a reasonable 2009 to you all, with my promise of a few more comic postcards shortly, and a few other delights from East Kent and beyond.

Happy 2009 one and all.

Phew, that was fun

Removal day was a treat - two enormous lorries in a tiny street in Canterbury (many thanks to the obliging hotel manager for permission to use his car park for a few hours). Only(!) a dozen or so items had to go in through the upstairs window, and I'm really not designed to be hanging out of a window, arms outstretched to catch bits of wardrobe... It took a week to work out how to get the heating to come on, and we still have a lovely collection of boxes and crates in the way downstairs, but still, just relieved that our little bit of the housing market actually went smoothly, despite being in a 5 house chain.

And then the two weeks delay for BT to do the phone and broadband thing. It was alnost as though I hadn't called to arrange it all two weeks in advance. Sigh.

Postcard service will be resumed shortly (as soon as I can find the right box!).

Nice of the bank to drop the interest rate though. Thank goodness for tracker mortgages! Must be the first time ever we actually got a financial choice right.

Seaside Postcard 98, 99: The countdown

Not very elegant, not very old, but a reasonably harmless one from the 1950s or maybe the 1960s. Bamforth cards rarely avoided innuendo or double entendres and here's a fine example!

Slightly cuter, this card was posted in October 1914, so the war was already a terrible reality... (you can see what was happening on this day in 1914 at the excellent FirstWorldWar.com).

Curiously this was either bought some years earlier, or simply old stock from the shop as the pull out pictures include the Italian Gardens, which had become the West Cliff Hall about 8 years earlier. Other pictures include the London steam boat, the Sands railway terminus and the New Pavilion.

Sent to Willie Price in Clapham by Wal and Nan, who saved a halfpenny on the postage by writing nothing except their names (and destination address) on the back.

And moving day tomorrow - final frantic packing and general chaos all round today. Hurrah.

Seaside Postcards 96, 97: Happy Days

This 1926 card brought a smile to my face - I expect there'd be a health and safety riot if you even tried this nowadays, if you could even find a spring board to queue up on, but it's tempting to give it a try, purely in the cause of scietific research. Something about mass, motion and irresistable forces, I think...

This rather more elegant drawing shows a dastardly cad (you can tell, it's the fact that he's smoking whilst gallantly carrying his lady off the sands so her dainty shoes avoid getting dirty - I suspect he has other things in mind though... she doesn't seem to be too worried).

Sent in 1908 (looking back, 1908 was a fantastically busy year for postcards...).

Oh well, enough diversions, back to packing boxes - removal van due in only 50 hours. Eeek.

Edukashonal Standerds . . .

A stroll in to town today took us past the library for the first time for a few weeks. Nice to see the scaffolding down, it's looking like a complete building at last. A bit of tidying up still to be done, but not long now before the return of a cultural and educational resource...

And not a moment too soon if these estate agent signs are anything to go by. The client, the printer and the sign putter-upper - surely one of them turned up to their English lessons on the day they talked about apostrophes? Sigh.

Dallas Sweetman

What a treat on Friday - a new play, performed and partly set in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral, a dark tale of 16th century love, betrayal, murder, lies and general nastiness, wrapped in an elegant and eloquent presentation. A bit too much echo, inevitably, but a brilliant evening - and all the critics (Telegraph, Guardian etc) seemed to have been impressed too, which is reassuring. The first play to be performed in the nave since 1928 apparently, which made it a little more special.

The play made good use of the location, with the pulpit, the stone screen of the choir and the doors to the choir all neatly integrated in to the action and movement, and the 4 foot high undulating stage ensured that the audience saw everything from the gently raked seating.

Mmmm... culture....

And yesterday an afternoon picking fruit - raspberries, blackberries, apples (and some huuuuuge courgettes) at the fruit farm near Sandwich. Mmmm... fruit, fresh air, and general nice weekendness.

Traffic Trauma on the A256

The man on the radio said it was adding 15 minutes to journey times - actually 45 minutes is more like it... roadworks outside the petrol stations at Richborough, just after the dual carriageway ends - already a pinch-point for traffic in the evening rush hour - caused tailbacks past Pfizer yesterday. And it's scheduled to last 14 weeks, so that's the last time we use that road this year... How we laughed as we sat waiting for our turn to move a few feet forward.

Maybe it will ease off a little as those who can will shift to the main Canterbury road (that should add to the general fun of getting past the railway crossing in the morning...). But for Pfizer and Dover traffic, you're dooooomed...

Can't be helped, it's got to be done, but it doesn't add to the joy as Autumn and dark evenings creep in. Sigh.

Seaside Postcard 95: Wet Wet Wet

Well it's ben a very welcome little dry spell, after a rather moist summer, so we're making the most of it where we can. Garden getting tidied up, walk on the beach last Sunday, fingers crossed for the Deal braderie this Sunday.

It was a bit of a shock, although not entirely unexpected, to see the report on Eastcliff Matters about the Maritime Trust being on the point of closure. What with the threat to the Crampton Tower Museum, that would be a neat removal of each of the town's remaining museums - perhaps we should start bets on which will suffer the first fire, presumably just after the first attempt at change of use planning permission? All I know is what I've read on the blogs and in the local papers, so no searing insights, but not providing management accounts for three years seems like a financial crisis determined to happen (which appears to be the case for the Maritime Trust). Even so, there is absolutely no sense that the council cares, understands or feels it needs any museum provision as part of an overall tourism strategy.

And I suggest keeping a close eye on the local and national auction houses (and eBay) for the next few months - closed museums are easy prey, whether for opportunist thieves, culturally negligent local authorities or hard-pressed management, although of course I'm sure all the local heritage is perfectly safe and secure for the time being (he said, somewhat optimistically).

Seaside Postcard 94: wishful thinking

A little optimistic, but maybe those few hotels that do remain in the area will see the benefit from a combined credit crunch and a series of holiday firm collapses.

This card dates from 1919, and it takes a little imagination to guess the emotions of people holidaying in the area this soon after the Great War, with the damage caused by Zeppelin raids, the personal traumas and tragedies, and the huge number of local buildings used as military hospitals all too fresh in people's minds.

This card was sent to Amy by Bell: "We fixed up alright as you can see from the other side". Hopefully just a joke, and not a comment on seaside boarding houses. Then again...

More holiday woes...

Another 85,000 stranded abroad as XL goes in to administration. Following the demise of Kent Escapes' parent company thi sweek, it justgets worse for those travellers maki g the most of the end of the school holidays. Report from the BBC gives more detail.

A small silver lining to this very nasty cloud - domestic holidays may benefit as people try to save some money, reduce the risk or simply canot find the available holidays to book. I leave it to you to decide whether Thanet is in any position to benefit from this after the erosion of our facilities, amenities and capacity over the last few years...

Seaside Postcard 93: shy but happy...

This 1924 card sums up a little of the attitude in and to Thanet, I think - lots of enjoyment going on in many places, but not enough publicity about it, so we all think we're in a world of misery and depression. (And if the government and Bank of England could just please stop telling us about the looming recession, it might be over a little quicker). That might be over-interpreting the situation (and this card) a little, but there's a lot to be said for seeing the sunny side... most of us seem to be in work, living in houses we like, in an area with lots of attractive features, with families we love/tolerate/grind our teeth over (delete appropriate), and on top of all that, Tesco is starting to get out the Christmas product lines. What more could you possibly want? OK, the last bit is a bit of a nightmare, but hey, why keep Christmas for December?

And if that doesn't work, then have a really good rant - you feel so much better afterwards.

Kent Escapes . . . not looking good

2,500 holidaymakers have been stranded abroad...

Budget Holiday Firm Goes Bust. This headline from the BBC news web site sounds like it's the end for Kent Escapes as Seguro Holidays went in to administration. Such a shame as one thing that could lighten the gloom surrounding Kent International is proper and profitable use as a holiday airport - much less business and an industrial park may be its only viable purpose, despite the threat to the water table...

Seaside Postcard 92: Auntie's Hat

Another delightful card, this from 1911 at the height of Edwardian seaside fun - and the year after they completed Fleetwood pier, tragically destroyed by fire yesterday morning. A closed amusement structure, owners wanting to develop, objections coming in thick and fast. Hmmm, a little bit familiar. And the third pier fire in so many months - Weston, Yarmouth and now Fleetwood. Will we ever learn to value and protect our seaside heritage effectively?

Anyway, back to the card - sent by Lil, another vanished name, to Miss Boakes, whose address was Darenth Asylum near Dartford. Whether Miss Boakes derived comfort that her friend/relative was "having a lovely time" we shall never know. Hopefully she found the picture funny, if nothing else...

Seaside Postcard 91: bad travelling...

Another early card, with someone off to a miserable start of their holiday: " "We got here about 3 yesterday after a very rough journey and much seasickness". Sent to a Mrs Hart in Webber Street (just off Blackfriars Road in London SE1), so presumably she came on the steamer from Tower Bridge.

Still, Esther goes on to say "... but it is alright now". Phew.

And two very glum faces this morning as we ger ready for work after a fortnight off... it was almost dark when we got up. That can't be right, can it?

Ghent yum...

And last, but definitely not least, some cakes. You're allowed to look, but don't touch. They're ours. All of them. Every last one.

Ghent mmmm...

The Ghent Design Museum is home to some fabulous items, varying from famous Belgian Art Nouveau furniture designs to modern international kitsch. Here are just a couple of items that caught our eye, and our imagination perhaps...

First, three stunning fruit bowls, clearly the coolest way to present pears, apples and bananas ever:

I'm sure eveything would keep sliding off the curved edges, but you would feel like an astronaut working at this desk:

She-who-must-be-indulged insists that this is how she wants her next kitchen to store and display its implements. Looks like I'll need to learn how to carve enamel, or something...

And who wouldn't want this art deco stained glass screen, especially if you can arrange shadows from a skylight like this:

And then there was the complete set of house fittings and furniture by Henry van de Velde, Belgian architect and teacher who ranks with his compatriot Victor Horta as an originator of the Art Nouveau style. Mmmm...

Just a shame I couldn't get far enough away from this to get it all in!

And finally in the old part of the museum, where the original Hotel de Connick is presented in all its 18th Century glory - including this modest fireplace. Now where were those tiles we bought at that fleamarket? Hmm...

Ghent, ooooh...

A few pictures from three days meandering aimlessly around Ghent. A few wrong turns, some long walks and a canal trip later, we managed a few pictures of the old town and one or two interesting things that caught my eye...

First things first - the fleamarket. Fabulous. Saturday and Sunday market beside Sint Jacobs church, with the inevitable consequences of taking a car - one large carpet, two chocolate moulds and one very heavy deco marble clock later we came put the other end and marvelled at the specalist market van pictured below - the sliding roof creating an undercover market stall, and the shelves and racking providing all the display space. A Renault classic...

There's nothing quite like turning a corner in a busy and narrow streetscape and unexpectedly coming across a complete and perfectly formed mediaeval castle. It looks just how a proper castle should look - moat, turrets, and everything...

And the canals... they do canals very well here...

Ghent, aaah

Just back from a weekend in the Belgian city of Ghent. Three very restful nights on the most comfortable bed we have ever paid to sleep in, in a 4-star hotel (at a bargain price, naturally, otherwise it would have been the usual 2-3 star).

A delightful crossing on Norfolkline to Dunkirk, then a quick whizz down the notorway to Ghent and then...

We drove, and drove, and drove. In fact it took an hour just meandering around Ghent's hideous mediaeval one-way street system with unfathomable names to find our hotel slap bang in the middle of the old part of town. The streets themselves are gorgeous, it's just their layout that is hideous. For drivers. For drivers without a map. For drivers without a map who hadn't worked out even which side of the city we were approaching from. Sigh.

Still, once there, you could not have asked for a better location - the Marriott had the canal-side facade in keeping with its 16th century neighbours, but inside was a fabulously stylish modern boutique hotel. Best of all worlds, and a huuuuge bedroom, a real treat compared to the usual shoeboxes we sleep in when we go to Paris.

Even the telly in the bedroom was superior - a large widescreen with BBC1 and BBC2 (and CNN) as well as the usual full array of mainstream continential channels. French quiz and game shows are a particular favourite.

And the lobby was a glass curved roof over a huge atrium, with glass lifts and doors opening on to a balcony-style corridor, giving a light and spacious feel to the whole place. Friendly and attentive staff and a generally calm, relaxed and welcoming feel. Perhaps that's what you always get in a 4 star hotel, but it felt refreshingly different for us!

And only £70 a night, if you were wondering... (via Expedia.com)

Rip Van Winkle awakes...

Strange, I thought I'd have a few days without blogging, just for a change, and over a month later, blinking in the light, here I am again. It's been quite therapeutic actually, although the intervening month or so has been anything but, including the beginnings of a house sale and move, a holiday and a general sorting out of stuff, things and everything...

So, if you are even remotely interested, coming up for your delectation - a report on a weekend in Ghent (which is clearly a popular place for local bloggers), an inevitable stream of rants about estate agents, solicitors and whoever else conspires to drive us mad over the next few weeks, a picture of a sunflower and a few postcards. In other words, normal service is resumed - although I'm not entirely sure anyone out there has been panicking too much at my absence. I hope not anyway...

Folkestone Fun

A visit to Folkestone last weekend saw an unexpected treat - the annual Charivari parade. Hundreds of children had clearly spent many hours at school, or at least after school, creating costumes, rehearsing dance steps and generally building up to a great little parade. Each school (or most of them anyway) was preceded by a band of some sort ranging from one in historic military garb to others looking more bohemian. A fun, bright and cheerfully noisy event, watched by a large and appreciative crowd as they made their way from the harbour via the centre of town up to the Leas.

Some serious concentration on the choreography paid off here...






Great bands...



Some serious effort needed on such a blustery day...

Pier pressure - an accident waiting to happen...

Sorry, I don't often rant and splutter about council workers, but this time it's essential.

A stroll on to the pier this afternoon, blazing hot day, plenty of people on the beach, quite a few swimming - some too near the pier - and a security guard and a movable barrier on the pier. This seemed to be expressly to prevent young people coming on the pier in their beach clothes, as these presumably were those most likely to jump in to the sea (or the harbour). OK, fair enough, good safety measure, but can you believe the way it was done?

Well, the guard stood with one hand on the barrier, and one hand on the pier wall - anyone prepared to get on to the wall (you know, the one with a 20+ foot drop on to the sands) was perfectly welcome to walk or crawl past him on top of the wall, and he didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, a few times it seemed he was telling them that's what they had to do.

When he opened the barrier to let a motorised invalid carriage through, or a car, or just adults, then kids would sometimes nip through, and once a couple of them just rushed him and squeezed past while we were there, but generally he got in their way - unless they got up onto the wall.

Clearly someone is going to slip and fall on to the sands eventually - so either make the pier wall impassable - a bit of curved fencing perhaps, or just give up. Encouraging kids to perform this mad stunt just makes it more dangerous and permitting them to try is just sheer lunacy. Don't say you weren't warned when we start to hear of the child with the broken back, leg or neck. Any day now...

And this isn't actually a rant about the poor old security guard, given an impossible task with no proper equipment. He was calm and friendly, didn't do any more than block those trying to get past, and didn't endanger those on the wall. But what a bloody stupid way to attempt to protect the public. Sigh.

Kent outings

A good weekend for outings, and a trip to Herne Bay on Saturday and Deal on Sunday. Curious to see th esimilarities between these two - long shingle beach, great seafront architecture, piers that - although modernised - still seem to look like piers, and plenty of visitors and residents enjoying themselves...

The old remains of the pier, isolated out at sea, yetstill showing how grand it must have been in its heyday...



The 'new' pier, still looking impressive in the fading sunlight, although it helps if you like mid 20th Century architecture a bit...



And this chap, gazing out to sea, with a lovely terraced backdrop. Aaaahhh.



And then a Sunday afternoon in Deal (well Walmer, really) where the Band of the Royal Marines made their contribution to the Deal Festival with their annual visit to the memorial bandstand. Endless layers of memories and emotions here for those with local connections and longish memories, but a huge and appreciative crowd and some great music from a legendary military band.

Seaside Postcard 90 - 2d or not 2d

After a bit of a gap, here's another classic from days gone by...

This card dates from August 1921, although I'm not sure what cost 2d (tuppence or 2p for those who can no longer read old money). Presumably that was the cost of deckchair hire, but maybe it's the cost fo the card itself. Postage on this card was a penny-ha'penny (ok, 1.5p then).

And the weather of course was better back then: "I am quite red after one day.So I don't know what we will be after a week". Still we're not quite in August yet, so there's still hope.

Steamin' at Preston

I seem to have had a three week break from the blog, for no particular reason, but here's one to make up for lost time... an afternoon at Preston Steam Event, near Wingham. My ever-indulgent better half allowed me to drag her round the site (the trade-off was several hours uninterrupted tennis-watching, and she did go to Wimbledon on Wednesday, so it was my turn for a treat...).

A great little steam rally, nice to see people enjoying their obsessions, maintaining our industrial heritage and keeping the idea of steam power alive for younger generations to whom steam is as alien as handwritten letters and telephones connected to the wall by cables (sorry, almost went off in to one then).

Anyway, here are a few pictures taken on my phone which came out surprisingly well given it's 4 years old and only 1 megapixel - I didn't have my 'proper' camera with me when we spontaneously decided the steam fair was an acceptable idea after all. Hmmmph.

I know nothing about bikes, but these two looked pretty cool...

And then the small engines - some were about one-third or one-half scale...

And some were really tiddly, with drivers clearly having fun fun fun.

A few travelling fairground organs provided the musical backdrop:

And then inside the permanent sheds - an amazing display of lumps of rust just waiting to be rescued and restored:

Made in Britain, exported to South America (and somehow returned to here). Just an indication of the reach of our engineering heritage in days of Empire... these two had been destined for Buenos Aires, and others were for Valparaiso and other parts distant....

Some ina beter state of restoration than others, of course:

Go on, you can say it - they are really pretty, aren't they!

And a shed full of organs, a fabulous noise, some great percussion and some beautiful carving and plasterwork.

This monster was from a German manufacturer...

And some WWII vehicles, including this tea wagon serving tea in enamel mugs.

And last, but so so not least, this steam-powered carousel, with the gallopers rising and falling to the sounds of the fairground organs, and puffs of steam from the centre engine. Grrrrreat...

There, that was a good couple of hours, and definitely a return visit when they have their next open day. The nicest thing (I think) is that this isn't just a steam fair in a random field or showground, but at the premises of a company devoted to the restoration and display of these masterpieces of engineering. Interesting web site too... Preston Services. Go on, buy one.