Zumi - Canterbury and East Kent

Northdown Road Fire

2009-05-22T06:12:00.003+01:00

One of my Margate-living colleagues pointed out that the properties destroyed by this fire included an arcade owned by... drum roll... a certain owner of fire-susceptible amusement properties. If this is true, is there seriously no-one in the fire, police or insurance industry that can put a list together and come to the conclusion that most normal people came to years ago, that fire is seen in Thanet as a normal property redevelopment solution?

Should the HIPS pack needed to market a property include a Godden-proximity-search, as well as the council, environmental and water searches?

Spring has sprung . . .

2009-04-13T08:37:00.002+01:00

Like Rip Van Winkle awakening from a long and deep deep sleep, the weekend brought glimmers of hope and pleasures to come. Beautiful weather despite forecasts of rain, optimistic stories about the housing market despite a background of gloom, and above all 4 days simply not at work - hurrah!

A wander through Westgate Gardens in Canterbury gave a chance to unwind, feed the ducks and just enjoy being outside in lovely surroundings - and all on a Friday. Enjoy the pictures below, and just feel the relaxation wash over you...

Jolly punting weather, too...

Surely the gnarliest tree in the area...

And a baker's dozen of pure aaahhhh...

Not the seaside...

2009-02-19T06:25:00.002Z

Not exactly a humorous seaside postcard, this gem from 1915 was sent all the way to Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. A pop-up flap reveals 10 photographs of the cathedral and its environs, as presumably that was all that was worth seeing here back then. A little unfair, as there was considerably more medieval architecture (and Victorian for that matter) before the bombs did their best to remodel the city in the 1940s.

Still, this is clearly how every visitor is greeted at Canterbury's two stations - cheering crowds, civic dignitaries, brass band, flags and all... in the current economic dip, that's certainly how we should greet tourists to the area!

Seaside Postcard 106: Away with the ferries

2009-02-17T06:30:00.003Z

LD Ferries have started services from Dover, and Euroferries may be about to start from Ramsgate. A bright new Spring for ferry travellers heading for Boulogne, and a welcome boost to Ramsgate's ferry terminal.

Just one point to watch with their timetable - the LD schedule provides for day trips with outward sailings at 7.00, 12.30 and 18.00 - however the return is only 10.45 and 16.15 - except for Saturday when there is a sailing at 18.00. Maybe that is the best combination, as they have presumably calculated that the majority of day trips would be on a Saturday, and the rest of the week is dedicated to freight and onward travel. If you want a slightly shorter day trip it's fine, returning on the 16.15, so maybe they've got it just right. That still allows you about 6 hours shopping and eating. They are talking about adding a second ship to the route in the Summer, so there may be some developments in that timetable.

And Euroferries still just has a one page web site with no genuine contact details, just email. A schedule, the ability to check prices and a means to make advance bookings will be a real sign of progress - fingers crossed.

Seaside Postcard 105: postings...

2009-02-12T06:33:00.002Z

If you're expecting the appropriate affectionate response on Valentine's day morning, you'd better get your skates on and get down to the postbox. And as all our local postman are as smart and efficient as this handsome chap, you're sure to get your love token delivered promptly on Saturday.

This card dates from the 1900s, with a set of drop down pictures showing the usual - the new Royal Victoria Pavilion, beach heaving with sunseekers, the harbour crowded with sails. Happy days, and not a cargo plane, dodgy developer or knife-wielding hoody for miles around. Mind you, I expect we had as much TB, diptheria and smallpox as we needed, women weren't trusted to vote, employment rights and state pensions and unemployment benefits were but a distant dream - but still, they were the days...

Seaside postcard 104: in the week of luuuurv

2009-02-10T06:22:00.003Z

In the build up to Valentine's Day, here's a very sweet and romantic postcard from 1905, published by The Cynicus Publishing Co., Fife. And a reminder of changing fashions for names as the message says simply "Tell Ethel a letter is following. Yours truly, Albert".

Time to go and batten down the hatches for what can only be described as a blustery day... or a howling stormy gale... or "when's it our turn for some proper snow?". Sigh.

And just a reminder if you like these, the whole lot of them can be seen on Flickr: Ramsgate Comic Postcards.

Seaside Postcard 103: gone fishin'

2009-02-05T07:00:00.002Z

Yet another card with fish on it, and also with bears. Not quite sure why, but bears seem quite a regular theme on cards.

This one was sent by Elsie in August 1913 to Dad in Upper Holloway, London. "I am fine and this is how I am situated. My face will soon be as red as my hat, but it is sore. I am going to Margarty tomorrow". Let's all call Margate Margarty, it sounds much friendlier!

We seem to have missed the snow at this end of the week, and with councils running out of salt and grit, it's just as well. So that's just the icy roads to worry about now then...

Trains and snow

2009-02-02T07:07:00.002Z

A fine crisp morning, with heavy snow forecast. Interesting to see how that affactes the trains and roads as usual. What type of snow is it? Is it the right kind? Can we cope? Why is snow in February such a shock?

Here's a nice card from earlier train days - almost the earliest in fact! This commemorates the Opening Day of the Canterbury to Whitstable railway on May 3rd 1830. Given that the Stockton-Darlington railway only opened in 1825, the sheer speead and scale of the spread of this new technology muct have been breathtaking at the time, and obviously was good cause for local celebration (apart from those who were sure that speeds over 20mph would be fatal due to inability to breathe...).

And given that this weekend saw the maiden journey of the new A1 steam loco Tornado from York to Newcastle, it seemed fitting to celebrate the early days too.

Snowdrivin'

2009-02-01T19:26:00.003Z

I'd forgotten what fun driving on little country roads could be - coming back from Folkestone we diverted towards Elham due to an accident on the main road. So there we are, trying to maintain traction on an uphill snowy surface, and there's a car coming down hill. So my wheels are locked as we carry on sliding up the hill; the land rover (towing two huge bales of sileage), wheels locked, gently sliding in our direction coming down the hill... oh what joy. Anyway disaster averted, except I'm now stationary pointing uphill, wheels spinning madly inching up at 0.001 miles per hour - can't go back as it's a valley, so it's just as bad the other way. Still, got there in the end.

The other treat was on a steep downhill stretch, gingerly heading downhill at 10 miles an hour, brake full on (ABS not helping, pumping brakes not helping), but still sliding, then trying reverse gear with enthusiasm, but still sliding downhill. Again, it worked, but she-who's-not-keen-on-driving-excitement was a little quiet (in that slightly menacing way they have) for a few minutes.

And that was the day of 'light snow showers'. Heavy snow tomorrow should be a right laugh (luckily I only have to drive half a mile across town).

Take care out there...

Zavvi . . . going going...

2009-01-30T07:01:00.002Z

Despite hanging on for a while, the Canterbury branch of Zavvi was on yesterday's list of 15 stores to be closed immediately. Another 13 local jobs, another gap in a shopping centre to join USC, Adams and one or two others (and Woolworths of course). And the Canterbury branch of Whittards is now closed and empty, following the purchase of the chain by Past Times (just 100 yards away). With the snow whirling in from the East next week, it's looking like it's going to be a cold hard February in the high street.

And yet Subway has announced 6,000 new jobs at 700 new stores across the UK and Ireland. Oh I see, "if it can find willing franchisees" - so it's not their money at all. Still, there may be some people with redundancy money and enough energy to make a go of it... And Asda is opening 14 new stores this year. We'll still need to buy food, clearly, even if DVDs and teapots are superfluous...

Seaside Postcard 102 - grizzling

2009-01-30T06:50:00.002Z

Yet another slightly sad postcard, almost reflecting how we felt last October - I say almost, because we were looking forward to Canterbury, but we'd certainly enjoyed living in Ramsgate.

This card was sent by Rene to her Aunty and Uncle in Fulham in August 1920. Obviously a classic seaside holiday: "A line to let you know I am having a fine time. Motor and donkey rides also boat rides. Thanks for photos, writing on sands. Love to all." And designed by the great Donald McGill. What more could you ask from a postcard?

And the 5 day forecast on the BBC shows a sunny Saturday, then snow on Sunday, heavy snow on Monday and Tuesday. Brrrr...

Canterbury - and so it starts

2009-01-29T06:39:00.003Z

Well we've been in Canterbury for 3 months as of today. So to mark the occasion, here's a postcard. Very few comic postcards here (it's not at the seaside, and it's not funny, the card as well as the city!) but I'll do my best. Obviously visitors to Canterbury are expected to have higher matters on their agenda, although of course day trips by charabanc were a regular part of the seaside holiday too.

This Valentine's pop-out card was sent by Phyllis on June 10th 1953, so presumably both the sender and recipient were basking in the glow of the coronation just a week earlier (June 2nd). The 1976 on the card is just the printer's code rather than the date. Sent all the way to Dover, it's a classic: "The weather is lovely. Having a nice time. Be home Sunday if alls well". No riotous larks here then. A nice set of black and white photos (mostly of the cathedral of course) make it a good souvenir of the trip.

Seaside Postcard 101 - same old story...

2009-01-28T06:59:00.002Z

Another gap, another posting. It's suprising how moving house interrupts the mental processes. I've still got quite a few seaside postcards to share, and I'll try to get themmup more regularly. One thing I've noticed since our October move to Canterbury - Thanet is much better served for blogs and papers. We seem to have just the single local paper now (plus an occasional AdScene) on Thursday, as well as the Wednesday freebie. And as for blogs, well I'm still looking for the Canterbury blogging community...

Anyway, here's another sad-looking card, sent to Lily in Lowestoft in 1913. Well we all know that feeling don't we...

And work is very quiet due to all our open access PCs being off for 10 days. How hard can it be to keep virus protection up to date when you have a full time team whose only job is to keep a network operative. Sigh.

Wondering at the Waste of Woolies

2009-01-10T07:37:00.002Z

The last Woolworths store has now closed, leaving a gaping hole in the high street. I think it caught many people by surprise to realise how much they would miss a shop in to which they rarely ventured.Somehow just knowing there was a Woolworths nearby was weirdly comforting, even if we had mostly switched our allegiances to Wilkinsons, HMV, Peacocks and the supermarkets.

More to the point, was the closure necessary? Offers were made and rejected that would have taken over the whole chain, although presumably some stores would still have closed in that process. But look at the astonishing fees that the administrators pay themselves (£50 million was one figure I saw before Christmas, one article reporting that Deloittes are charging £22,000 per hour). And the banks that lent money to Woolworths not only get all their money as they were secured creditors, but they will get penalty fees on top - legal, but maybe an incentive to hasten the closure rather than look for a trading solution.

Add that to the cost to the economy of the loss of business taxes, the cost of support and benefits for the newly unemployed staff, the costs of those businesses that will now struggle or collapse with the loss of such a major outlet (not to mention the write-offs of their unpaid bills to Woolworths) - add that lot to the best of the offers received when the chain was open, and if the total is higher than the final value realised by selling off the leases piecemeal, then the administrators should be made to pay the difference. It's quite hard to see how it is in their interest to find a quick and tidy solution when they're being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds a day to evaluate, consider and reject offers as all the options evaporate one by one.

Sadly it feels like the people who we imagine were trying to rescue the chain - administrators, banks etc - have their snouts too deep in the trough to even consider anything other than their own winnings. Just my opinion...

Iceland had made an offer for the whole chain in August, rejected as insufficient. So now they are left with cherry-picking 50 or so sites to turn in to their own outlets - Broadstairs, Herne Bay and Whitstable included. But what a wasted opportunity. And Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Faversham and all the others will just have to live with the uncertainty of what will happen to that gap in the high street.

The picture below shows Canterbury's store on its last day. Tragic.

This is the full list of the stores bought by Iceland: Alton, Barnsley, Belper, Bethnal Green, Bexhill On Sea, Bicester, Billericay, Blandford Forum, Bodmin, Boreham Wood, Bow, Braintree, Broadstairs, Devizes, Exmouth, Fraserburgh, Frome, Greenford, Hackney, Hailsham, Harold Hill, Haverhill, Herne Bay, Hexham, Highgate, Honiton, Kilburn High Road, Leyton, Malvern, Matlock, Mill Hill, Minehead, Monmouth, Morpeth, Morriston, Newtownards, Palmers Green, Pinner (Rayner's Lane), Palmers Green, Plumstead, Pontypool, Poplar, Portslade, Ringwood, St Neots, Stoke Newington, Strood, Sudbury, Swaffham, Wakefield, Wallington, Whitstable

Seaside Postcard 100 - grandad's trousers

2009-01-06T19:27:00.002Z

A nice card this, posted by Eileen in 1925 to her Grandad with the message - "Dear Grandad, I found these trousers on the sands are they yours. They are not very smart so I do not think they are. I am going down to bathe in a minute. Thank you for the money you sent me." There, properly respectful (she know's he's smartly turned out), properly grateful (he's obviously a generous type) and generally lovely. Aaah.

And this is the 100th (but far from the last) card in my seemingly endless series of Ramsgate comic postcards. Watch this space.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2008-12-31T23:33:00.002Z

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

2008-11-12T07:32:00.002Z

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

2008-10-22T08:03:00.005+01:00

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

2008-10-21T05:40:00.002+01:00

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 . . .

2008-10-11T23:34:00.002+01:00

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

2008-09-29T06:51:00.003+01:00

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

2008-09-24T06:35:00.002+01:00

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

2008-09-19T06:31:00.003+01:00

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

2008-09-12T06:27:00.003+01:00

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...

2008-09-12T06:23:00.002+01:00

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...