Just one more day, Happy Easter

Three lovely French Easter cards are here today (my last Easter cards, I promise). All fluffy chicks, naturally, dating from 1928 and 1929, sent to a Monsieur Raymond Courtecuisse in Paris.

Last day at work, then a few days off (actually a whole week as I have to use up my leave, hooray!). Plenty to do - Continental Food Market, Thanet Beer Festival, family visiting, Pettmans auction next wednesday and a day trip to France on Thursday. Yippee...

Easter hurtles closer . . .

Another sweet little Easter greeting, this time from 1907.

Does anyone know when chicks became the symbol of Easter? Or eggs for that matter? Both eggs and chicks are produced throughout the year - why not lambs? or some other once-a-year ofspring? Just windering...

Easter still approaching . . .

Easter is getting closer, religious-themed drama starting to appear on TV and the weather seems certain to turn wintry by the weekend. All is normal then.

This card was sent from Canada in 1913, signed "from your litle friend Alfie". Cute. And a One Cent George V Canada stamp, which seems a bargain.

We've got a Continental Market again down at the harbour in Ramsgate this Easter (gales and storms permitting), combined with A Wee Taste of Scotland. Planned to run from Friday to Monday, there should be plenty of stalls selling German sausages, French tartiflette, Scottish potato and meat stuff (I forget what it's called, but I had some last year and it was yum) and much more. Fingers firmly crossed that the Thanet microclimate wakes up and does its stuff...

Fun by the seaside...

Speaking of boozy fun, has anyone any idea what is going on here? 'Ramsgate' is handwritten on the back of this photo, and it may be under the East Cliff in front of the old Olympia or Pleasurama site. One of the likely lads is clutching a giant bottle of Guinness, another is holding a cow, naturally enough, and they have hats (beer mats stuck in the rims) and grins that imply they're either a gang show or a bunch of students in Rag Week. Any ideas?

Seaside Postcard 64: Straightlaced? Not...

This cheerful card dates from August 1929, and despite the red-nosed, lecherous groping by the bloke in the dodgy suit, our heroine dosn't seem too perturbed that her clothes are springing apart! Shocking, quite shocking...

Seaside Postcard 63: Flights of Fancy

Not wildly humorous, but a fantastic aircraft image from the early 20th Century, with a fold-out set of photographs of Ramsgate from around 1910. One for the local aviators . . . whatever size of aircraft they are operating!

And here's another Easter card, helping to build up to the excitements of next weekend.


A disastrous visit to the postcard collector's fair in Margate yesterday - not disastrous for the dealers, but my wallet emptied rapidly as I greedily grabbed handfuls of comic, scenic and greetings postcards. I'll move on to some other obsession soon, hopefully a cheaper one, this one is getting far too expensive! Still, you'll be the winners, as I'll be sharing a few of them with you in the next week or two. Worth the wait - really...

That's better... Easter approaching fast

A picture in the shape of a bell, on top of a little octagonal photograph, on a silver paper oval, on a silk ribbon, on this 1945 Easter card. Lovely. Looks like a personal hand-made card - nothing on the back except a handwritten date, so maybe it was a love token between the couple in the picture. I like to think so. There's nothing new about crafting your own cards!

Saturday grumbles

I'll put up a more cheerful post a little later, I promise. But first... grrr...

• The nicest fish shop for miles around is closing at the end of the month, according to the local paper. Penn's in Southwood Road - great fish and a fabulous chippy - will soon be no more. Luckily a new fish shop appeared in King Street a few months ago, so there's some hope. And the reason isn't the new competition, just the proprietor's retirement and no-one in his family to take up the reins. It'll be missed.
  
• Last week's Adscene managed a classic piece of sloppy editing: over the article about the one-day strike by the Coastguard Agency staff was a headline: "Lifeboatmen Strike". Memo to sub-editors - lifeboats and coastguards are not the same. There's a clue in how the words are spelt, if you don't know anything about anything. They are DIFFERENT. One is an almost entirely volunteer-staffed charity, the other is a staggeringly poorly paid but conventionally employed team working for a government agency. Are there ANY journalists (or even literate grown-ups) in the local newsrooms any more?
  
• So the unexpired lease on the Pavilion is apparently worth hundreds of thousands. That rules out the local community (or even the local council) having anything to do with its next use then. Still, they'll be great flats until they're washed away next winter.
  

There, just the three grumbles this morning. Now I'll start scanning some nice vintage Easter Cards to start building a happy sunny mood for next weekend.

A blog to beat blog block - techie question

One of my new job's roles is to develop lines of communications with our library users - many other NHS library services use blogs (as well as printed newletters, user groups, the web site and so on), and this seems a sensible idea except... our local health trust's IT policy bans blogs, filtering all "social and networking sites" as undesirable. Although Facebook is ok, strangely. However it is erratic - if I go to the home pages of Blogger, Wordpress or Typepad they are all blocked. But some, and only a few, individual blogs are visible. For example http://www.philbradley.typepad.com/ is ok for some reason. Other typepad blogs are blocked however.

Can any of you techy types suggest how I can publish what looks and feels like a blog, easy to update and comment, without necessarily being produced by one of the blog services - all my audience will be within the same network so it's clearly pointless if they can't see the exciting developments that we have in mind for the library service!

Plan B is an old-style CGI form-based thingy, but that's not very Web 2.0

Plan C is to get them to whitelist my particular blog, but as I can't discover who to ask - and the IT service desk doesn't seem to know - that may take a loooong while.

Any ideas?

Storms? Now THAT's a storm...

This picture just in by email from my brother in Jersey - looks like yesterday wasn't just a blustery day on the mainland. Jersey gets one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, and combine the power of the sea with a storm and a high tide and you get results to make some local bloggers quake in their boots. I mean, just how heavy is a 5 foot lump of Jersey granite? Quarter of ton, half a ton, more? And it's not like they are just lying around, they were concreted in to the sea walls last time I visited home... Eek. For those who know, this was on Victoria Avenue near West Park (just outside St Helier).

Seaside Postcard 62: if only . . .

Well we can all dream of the glory days when Ramsgate was full, although nowadays the only reason it might be full is that most of the guest houses no longer exist. Still, give it a couple of years - new flats and hotel down on the seafront, all those new-build flats sold and coccupied, a high-speed train link and a load of Chinese-backed companies clustering around an expanding airport and who knows?

This card was posted in August 1909 to a Mr Wakfer, Ingersoll-Rand in Lower Thames Street, London. And signed Yours, Harry Nob. You just don't get names like this any more...

Storms and floods everywhere this morning, let's hope Michael's direct predictions don't come true today!

Balkan Belly Dancing Burlesque

How can you not want to see this? Go. Enjoy. Wobble.


Click for full size.

Two steps forward . . .

A beautiful March 1st, a stroll through town, and some pictures that seem to encapsulate many of our current issues:

The Library rebuild is clearly progressing well, with a new modern framework sprouting amongst the old remains - whether that will be reflected in the drive to embed council services within a library setting and therefore destroy the ethos, ambience and effectiveness of a libary service remains to be seen. Certainly there are mixed feelings about Margate's new Gateway reported in the press, and as a librarian I think there should be a slightly clearer separation of services to enable both to be delivered to their best advantage. Sharing a building is one thing, sharing floorspace is quite another in a setting where calm, concentration and privacy can be beneficial (and that refers to both library and council operations...).

Interesting to see a tug on the slip at the harbour, getting an overhaul and repaint. A very chunky propellor in a protective housing which presumably helped it get through the sand bar at the entrance to the harbour. It takes a particularly brilliant council management to identify that dredging needs to be improved, and then as their first response to sell off the existing dredger, and only then start a long and protracted search for a replacement.

At least the scaffolding contractor will be pleased at progress with the Pleasurama development. I'm not sure the works entrance is going to do a lot for the trade of the catering cabins on the roundabout but at this stage it's a bit like my response to the Turner thingy - do anything, just get on with it, at least we'll have something better than the mess we have now. It could have been so much better, but maybe the next generation will get it right...

Annoyingly, I missed the auction of the casino's contents last week. Poker cbips, chandeliers and all. And now of course there's a for sale sign. Is this for the entire building as the councol has no need for it? Or just the unexpired portion of the lease of the casino's half? With Eastcliff Matters reporting a list of council properties now 'surplus to requirements' and therefore under threat from whatever seems expedient/profitable, it'll be interesting to see which offshore-registered yet strangely influential developers get their hands on this one...

It's not all gloom - at least Crusties is open again (even if they didn't have my favourite rum truffles yesterday) after the fire-forced refurbishment.

Extreme Privacy

I know things have got a bit steamy in the bloggy arena recently, so I can quite understand why various bloggers have turned on their comment moderation - but ECR has taken this to a fabulous extreme this morning - you need to be invited to actually read the blog itself! Maybe this is the future for blogging, a series of private clubs so exclusive that the crowds clamour to get in. It seems to work for some West End drinking clubs, but it may limit the impact of the satirical commentary if it's only seen by the author and his closest chums. Obviously I'm just jealous - I want to be on the inside looking out... but what if he's saying something really interesting? Or is he adopting the New Labour (and Old Conservative, before I'm accused of bias) approach to Freedom of Information?

Let us in!!!

On a more philosophical note - isn't is strange how you get a sense of ownership - and therefore grief at its loss (that might be over-egging it sligtly, but you get the point) - over something that you don't own/write?

Seaside Postcard 61: Large capacity

This card, send to Dartford in 1919, cheerily claims there's room for all in Ramsgate. Nothing new there then - in the message the sender (a girl called Grace) says "there's crowds down here on the sands". Aaah, happy days...

Seaside Postcard 60: Yet More Fish

Yet another fish-related card, one of several on the theme of 'a line from...' or 'only a line...' showing (a) the lack of imagination of postcard draughtsmen, or (b) the popularity of fish at the seaside. You decide.

This card was posted from Ramsgate in August 1909, going to a Mrs Jarvis in Wandsworth, London. Aother name you don't hear much nowadays, this was a 'Dear Maud'.

Springcleaning & Housekeeping

It's a bright and shiny Saturday morning so a good time to do some long-overdue admin.

First, change the password. What with the Thanet bloggy world getting a bit twitchy this week, it's a reminder that it's good practice to change your password every now and again, especially if you ever use publicly accessible machines in internet cafes or at work. And ALWAYS get a few numbers in there among the letters.

Second, back up your work! The loss of ECR's blog isn't just depriving us (temporarily I hope) of pithy comment and opinion - he had a lot of great pictures and insightful comments on there among all the other stuff. Although Blogger itself isn't terribly simple to back up (it involves making a new tamplate, saving the old one, replacing then exporting then replacing again and republishing - something like that anayway, I'd lost the will to live after reading through the instructions), there is a really nice and easy way to do it - it took me less than 5 minutes to back up my blog this morning.

Here's how: use a Firefox extension (what old-timers would call a plug-in) called Scrapbook. Instructions are all on the helpful Dummies Guide to Blogger where the download links for Firefox and then Scrapbook are in the third paragraph in the left hand column. I hardly ever use Firefox, but it's worth installing just for the occasional clever tool like this - each Month of your blog is saved with one simple drag-and-drop to the Scrapbook folder, and it's lightning fast.

I feel much happier now. Just off to change my password. Back soon...

Turbulent Times

Getting to grips with my new job this week, I haven't had the same time as usual to do much on the blog - more postcards to come tomorrow, I promise. It's my 5th day, and the NHS culture is not offering any unexpected challenges - of course that's just the first week, there'll be something confusing lurking just around the corner no doubt.

Speaking of confusion and lurking - there's been something of a bloodbath amongst Thanet blogs in the last few days: Thanet Life's owner has suspended his blog due to an excess of nastiness, some of which has spilled right over and hacked and deleted Eastcliff Richard's blog. Given these are two of the livelier ones, both quite good at breaking local news, this is a bad thing all round. Reading the comments on some recent postings, it's surprising anyone leaves the comments function turned on at all. People manage to get themselves very angry when sat alone at the keyboard, take things incredibly personally and chuck around all sorts of claims, accusations and insults.

Hopefully they will both make a reappearance soon - however irritating a certain political position is to someone who doesn't share it, and however annoying some witty and not so witty comments are, there should be the ability to share, oppose and discuss views and these without anyone getting scared, hacked or too furious.

I'd try and inject some controversy into the area of Edwardian seaside postcards, but I'm not sure anyone would care!

Seaside Postcard 59: Keeping it straight...

I have no idea what witty and obscene comments this card could provoke from some of the Thanet bloggers, and I'm not sure why simply bending should be punished by unceremoniously un-donkeying in this fashion, but that's how it was in the old days, apparently.

This delightful card was posted from Ramsgate to Luton in August 1909, and the correspondent tells of how lovely it was arriving by water - presumably train to London, then steamboat down to the Kent resorts.

And the look on the donkey's face suggests he (or she) had done this before to unsuspecting bendy riders...

Then again, judging by the right foot in the left stirrup, was the rider facing the wrong way?

Enough blogging, off to the first day in my new job. Eek.

Seaside Postcard 58: More fishy tales

Yet another fish-related card, this one by the master himself, Donald McGill. One of his earlier cards, this was sent from 4 Spencer Square, posted in 1910. Etty, who sent the card to St Johns, in South East London, was clearly having a fine old time: "Talk about boys, Mum's the word". Happy days.

Speaking of things fishy, the local sagas are getting ever so interesting what with illicit demolition attempts on listed buildings- for the full story (or as much as is publicly known so far) check out the two leading local blogs Eastliff Richard and ThanetOnline, with some informed input from Eastcliff Matters. The great thing about the bloggy world isn't just the blogs themselves, it's the comments they draw out - in this case we have interventions from councillors and architects, as well as reminiscences and real history from a previous owner of the building. Fascinating, in sad and angry-making sort of way.

The less great thing about the bloggy world is the speed at which people lose their temper, or the way they lack restraint when replying. I nearly had my head bitten off for a comment on ThanetLife (about China, human rights and international trade - interesting, huh?). I've always found Simon's management and writing of the blog reasonable (given his obvious leanings as a councillor and Conservative - nothing wrong with that in itself, but it does influence viewpoints somewhat), but he has quite an angry readership, it seems to me. Very quick to snarl and shout, and even he himself has a somewhat lively response whenever ECR helpfully lobs one of his little spiky comments in to the mix. Fun to read, if slightly worrying - are you all like this down the pub or at work? It must be exhausting... or maybe I'm just too sensitive.

There's more than one seaside

Here's a nice old card from Margate, just to show I do look outside Ramsgate for inspiration now and again. A very laboured rhyme perhaps, but an attractive card nonetheless.

Posted in July 1913, to an address in hackey Wick, London, the sender was of course 'having a fine time'. This Valentine postcard has printed on the reverse 'Mail Novelty - shape passed by the GPO for a half penny stamp', implying that this sort of card was still so new that post offices weren't used to them yet!

The drop-down set of photographs includes Westonville Pavilion, Jubilee Clock, Westonville Sands, the Lifeboat Memorial, the Concert Hall in the Pavilion (which is the Winter Gardens), the Jetty, the Harbour and Palm Bay.

Seaside Postcard 57: Come and see what's left...

Another sweet image from the 1930s, inviting us to visit Ramsgate and see what the developers and council have kindly left standing for us to see. But hurry, it's getting less day by day...

Weather or not . . .

Ridiculous. That's the only word for it. Yesterday we spent the whole day expecting a snow shower, which never materialised. Today, after a stroll round Herne Bay, we sat on the beach at Whitstable to watch a beautiful sunset. What's wrong with this place - where's the horrible cold, miserable, depressing winter? Daft. Not the greatest picture, given that it was taken on the mobile phone, but it gives a flavour of the splendour of the view. And it was splendid.

Seaside Postcard 56: A Miss is as Good as a Mile

Ah, where would postcard artists be without the mighty pun? Here's another classic of its type, with lovely pull-out photos from the 1930s showing Ramsgate in its deco glory - the swimming pool, the Sun Cafe (Harbour Lights now) and the Winterstoke Memorial, as well as the more traditional delights of the harbour and sands of course.

Seaside Postcard 55: Spot the Difference

Great disappointments in life: discovering when you play a Pinky and Perky LP at 16 r.p.m. it's just two blokes singing; discovering that not everything you read on the Internet or in the papers is true; realising that MPs are just as greedy and selfish as everyone else; that belief in the tooth fairy and Santa are neo-orwellian parental behaviour control techniques; oh and that not every Ramsgate postcard was hand-crafted by a local artisan in an attic somewhere near the harbour.

OK it's not really a surprise - the last one, I mean, I'm still in denial over most of the others. Here's just one example of efficient product distribution, from 1906. One postcard design, overprinted (or simply redesigned), in this case quite elaborately, with the crest and name of the location. It's quite obvious from many of the cards I've listed that normally it's just the name that gets changed, so quite a simple printing job - this is one of the more elegant ones...





I still like 'em though. Pinky and Perky, that is.

Happy Landings

We're all relieved and impressed at the recent narrow escape at Heathrow, testament to training, airframe strength, good timing and sheer luck. But that doesn't mean there's no room for suggesting improvements, perhaps for our own local airfield, used as it is by training flights, presumably with pilots who may just have a slight doubt as to where to stick the wheels down. Here's the answer (from boreme.com):

Queen Charlotte

A quick visit to the newly-reopened Queen Charlotte in Addington Street on Saturday (it only opened, after a short break between managers, on Friday). Now run by Sam Braganza and family, it's definitely a local pub run by local people - friendly and lively atmosphere guaranteed in this small, authentic local hostelry.

Sam says she's got great plans for Quiz nights, curry nights, Karaoke nights, just as a starter, so hopefully this pub should quickly get back to where it should be, at the heart of a local community. Addington Street has lost too many pubs, with the Falstaff seemingly gone for good quite recently, and the Duke of York some time ago, so I'd reccommend a visit.

And if you like the history and architecture of Addington Street, Images of England describes the pub as part of the redevelopment of the street in 1801 by James Townley. The "small painted overmantel of Napoleonic war period" is worth a look as well, a lovely and well-preserved bit of history in its own right. The interior is just classic small pub, an open fire, slightly random collection of tables and chairs, and above all a cheerful normalness you just can't get in the larger places.

A Harbour of Sand

Here's a view from around 1850. Nothing new about sand in the main harbour, clearly. And yet, when management of sailing ships was the norm, they seemed to manage...

Seaside Postcard 54: More Fishy Tales

Another fishy-themed card, this one posted in 1924, by someone who hadn't read the instructions. As well as the Ramsgate postmark on the back, there is a franking mark saying "Liable to Letter Rate" and a Red 1d Postage Due stamp. The crime? The sender had written a message, which turned a card in to a letter. Naughty, naughty. Still, it was addressed to someone in Bayswater - I expect they could afford the extra penny. The message reads "Dear Doll & Sam, Just a card, we are having a nice time. Perhaps Sam would like this for breakfast. Love from Amy". Well worth a penny...

The fold-out strip of photos shows Ramsgate at its best - Ellington Park as an elegant place to promenade in Edwardian times, a crowded Main Sands, a West Cliff Hall looking beautiful, the Promenade Pier and of course many sailing ships crowding the quayside in the harbour. Aaah..

Now that's what I call driftwood....

Worthing Beach's new look for Spring, courtesy of the Ice Prince.

Seaside Postcard 53: Happy Arrivals

Another cheerful postcard welcoming new arrivals to Ramsgate. With all the new flats nearing completion - Sea Bathing Hospital, Royal Crescent, Addington Street etc etc we'll certainly need some new people from somewhere. With enough money to buy a small flat for the price of a larger house with character (oops, letting my preferences show again...). Still, if you build it they will come. Apparently.

And as for the Channel 4 Food season (to pick a topic at random). Chicken programmes - good, worthwhile, might make a change. Jaime's one on the food you eat, complete with the mad German guy slicing up dead bodies to show what fat people do to themselves (we know, really, honest we do) the same - it seemed to have an effect on the audience, and you could see why it was done.

But then Gordon Ramsey last night - what was the point?

The idea was you cooked along at home, quite a nice idea for a cookery programme, if you really think steak and chips is worth the effort. But after 10 minutes of Gordon shouting hurry up, keep up and showing his expertise in slicing and chopping then shouting at his fellow presenters to keep up I abandoned the TV completely. I can't believe that did anything except demonstrate what an arrogant pillock he is. Maybe you enjoyed it, in which case, sorry. But as an exercise in helping the audience to cok real food it was a total waste of effort. Ego triumphing over education.

Shops and towns and things...

I was wandering around the Kent County Council web site this morning when I noticed the Town Centre Audit for Westwood cross was published yesterday - just a simple summary of floor space and vacant premises. Quite an interesting comparison with the other (real) town centres though:

Town Centre	Date Published	Total Space	% Vacant	Total Units	% Vacant
Westwood Cross	16.01.08	34,385	8.7%	39	5.1%
Ramsgate	07.11.07	62,941	19.7%	248	26.6%
Margate	16.01.08	35,873	21.7%	181	33.1%
Broadstairs	07.11.07	14,428	3.4%	143	4.2%

Broadstairs seems to be more or less unaffected, but the huge percentage of both units and square footage vacant in Ramsgate and Margate should make someone in business planning stop and think about local amenities, quality of life, urban environments and all the rest. Westwood Cross may be a roaring success, but it still has to work where we actually live... And surely there's a limit to the number of estate agents that can take the vacant premises. Surely...

To be fair I haven't found or compared older audits, so maybe it's always been like that, and it's very unfair of me to presume it's the Westwood effect. But I doubt it.

And if a new extension to Westwood Cross replaces the demolished ShoeFayre building, it doesn't look like easing the pressure any time soon. Anyone know if that's just going be another 'street' of multiple stores? or is it all for Primark (if recent rumours are to be believed, and God knows it sounds likely enough)?

Seaside Postcard 52: A Dog's Life

Another delight from the 1930s, with pull-out images of the Sun Terrace at the Harbour, the Winterstoke Gardens and the diving boards at the Swimming Pool.

And as for dogs... well there's no shortage of them in Ramsgate. Mostly well-behaved and well-managed, they clearly enjoy the seaside, the fresh air, the bracing walks to be had here.

Mind you, the dog in this card clearly has a few issues . . .

Seaside Postcard 51: Wonderful...

A blustery day, severe gale force winds predicted and disrupted ferry services on the cards. Flood warnings are starting to pop up as well... Maybe not ideal conditions for a wonderful day, but we can hope...

And if you feel like scaring yourself, pop over to the Environment Agency Flood Warnings page. Nothing much for the South-East, which is a relief - we just get the wind here. But there are severe weather warnings for our region from the Met Office, with a 60% risk of disruption - and today's weather for the South-Eastfrom the Met Office.

Counting chickens . . .

So we were in Asda yesterday, looking at the total lack of free range chicken in the cabinets, and unable to see even the shelf labels where they should be. She-who-has-decided-to-take-a-stand went to Customer Services to ask about it, and the lady there said they must be sold out, as sales had risen since this week's programmes on Channel 4 about the chicken industry. Fair enough, except . . .

There followed a surreal little chat that showed Hugh and Jamie still have a long way to go... "I was shocked by the cruel way they're killed" and "But you know Hugh has a shop where he's selling chickens for £20 or more". And those two facts completely negated the whole principle in the (admittedly clearly tiny) mind of the customer services lady - she'd watched the programmes, and managed to entirely not understand the words being spoken.

Although killing animals doesn't look cute, it was actually humane - they are stunned before their throats are cut, and how else would you kill them? And Hugh's shop (just one shop in the whoooole country, so it's not like we're going to drive to Axminster to get a shockingly expensive bird) was just not relevant, although to be fair it was catastrophocally bad PR to open it in the same period, because there are always those desperate to find a conspiracy or ulterior motive.

And she just hadn't got the whole principle that it's how they live during their compressed lives that is the issue. And the flavour. Sigh. I'm not sure I saw anything that I hadn't been aware of, although watching day-old chicks being gassed on Jamie Oliver's show (which was a bit too cheery and celebrity-laden to have a major impact, I think) brought out the sentimentality in the audience very effectively. I don't think those two programmes will change the world just yet, although it does seem to have prompted several of the supermarkets to publish positive-sounding policy promises. I don't think Asda is one of them though.

Seaside Postcard 50: Centre of the Universe

Ramsgate has clearly always been the centre of the known Universe. You can go everywhere from here! Perhaps that explains the mobile population... But you can get here from just about everywhere as well. And yes there's plenty to do while here, but we don't want to get too insular, do we?

Anyway, one of our multiple New Year's Resolutions is to take full advantage of the proximity of the outside World this year - day trips and weekends to France being high on the list. The ability to have an overseas jaunt without using up precious annual leave is a real plus, and there's a lot to do and see within a couple of hours' drive from the ferry ports. All we need now is the sea to stop going up and down quite so much...

Seaside Postcard 49: The Bear Facts

A cute little image from 1920, with a happy visitor looking a little like a big bear refusing to come home...

Oh and I got offered - and accepted - a new job this week. At my advanced age of 48, this is my first substantive (permanent) contract EVER, after a lifetime of self-employment and short term contracts. Even though I was at my last employer for 11 years, I was always on short term contracts (and this was a university), about 18 in total, although I lost track after the first 10. I don't really have a problem with short-term contracts - nowadays you get all the same leave, sickness and other protections anyway (including redundancy!), but there is a definite psychological difference in the way you see your employer and the way they see you.

And I'll be a Librarian (kindly note the capital L, it's important). A Clinical Librarian in a hospital. Woohoo. A proper professional post, doing something properly useful (mostly staff training and helping doctors and other colleagues learn to search for information, certainly not just issuing books, which is soooo last century, albeit essential and valuable), finally using my qualifications properly and all the fun of getting to grips with the corporate culture of the NHS. Can't wait. Although I have to, for a month or so anyway. Even looking forward to the daily commute.

Seaside Postcard 48: A New Light Dawns

A lovely card from 1920, showing a slightly random, but nevertheless beautiful lighthouse, shining light on the beauties of whatever town is overprinted, and whose photographs pull out.

These include a picture of Pegwell Bay with landscaped gardens below the cliff, sailing smacks leaving the harbour, the fountain in Ellington gardens and the 'West Cliff Pavilion and Parade' looking very elegant indeed.

Seaside Postcard 47: Not as funny as it could be...

OK, so it's not a hysterically funny seaside postcard, but I need all the help I can get today, of which more in a day or two...

Seaside Postcard 46: What a handful . . .

I'm not quite sure who has their hands full in this card - the two cheeky chappies chatting up the girl, or the girl with a boy in each hand. They all seem quite happy though, so best not to worry.

Maps of War And one of those entirely pointless moments of excitement on Saturday - a visit to Waterstones in Canterbury, a look at the latest large glossy books and there's my name in print. Woohoo! OK, it was only for compiling the index, and I'm not exactly mentioned on the cover, in fact my name makes up the two last words in the entire volume, but it's still a cheap thrill to see "Index by..." inside a real book in a real shop (rather than on the printers' proofs that are usually all I get to see).

And it's a lovely book, very large format with full and double page illustrations of maps used in warfare over the centuries, cunningly titled Maps of War. If it's your sort of thing, you'll love it. Anyway she-who-needs-to-be-impressed seemed suitably thrilled when I casually pointed it out to her.

Seaside Postcard 45: Sunny Days Are Here At Last

Well it looks bright and cheery, so we might just drag our sickly selves out of the house today and spread some germs around the shops. Sorry, but it has to be done... Just a cold, not the dreaded ChuckingItAllUpVirus, so no need to panic.

Seaside Postcard 44: Splashin' About

Well it was only a light snow shower and bit of cold rain, so no great meteorological thrill yesterday. The sea looked interestingly wild against the harbour wall at teatime though - it must be winter, Ramsgate style.

Cold, cold, cold

Being blessed with a (very) large external outline, I rarely feel the cold, but I am currently afflicted with a nose-throat-head disturbance that is completely horrible. 3 hours sleep last night before an important meeting this morning didn't help at all, and walking a few hundred yards through the first snow flurry of the season didn't help things very much. Luckily I'm not susceptible to earthly diseases, so I'll soldier on uncomplainingly (that wasn't me complaining, simply reporting facts, in case you were confused).

The Christmas tree is now outside and all the deccies packed away so that's that over and done with. I expect there'll be a couple of old postcards up here in a day or two as soon as my illness, disease, pain mild discomfort has gone away. Lucky I'm so brave or it'd be whinge, whinge, whinge...

Seaside Postcard 43: Bad day for driving

This may be how I drive to work today, so beware! There are likely to be a lot of drivers out there on their way back to work after the break, very few of them happy about it, and one or two still recovering from New Year's Eve. So be careful...

Oh well, it'll soon be Easter. And predictions of snow for tomorrow, just to cheer us up.

Eeek...

of all the things you don't want to see from your Blog, this must come out pretty high. OK, it went away after a couple of minutes, but I just don't need this sort of shock today. Far too busy getting ready for going back to work tomorrow. New Year's Resolution Number 18 (approx): Don't panic. Ever. Even if you should.

Happy 2008 - Hearty Greetings to All