delayed.....having a laugh...or what!

Yes, it seems as though I published the second birthday 'romp' and then disappeared for 2 weeks. As those of you that know me; there are times when time flies by and seems to go far too quickly.... and today we lost an hour as well going back to GMT. Here it is 6pm and 'pitch black' out there. There goes another summer and Christmas is around the corner!
When I think of working full time and still do the things I do now and more. True, as somebody said maybe I did them a lot quicker then to meet deadlines which frankly don't exist now! If it gets done great! If not, do I worry?
Back to serious matters. Though I don't publish, I still keep up with what's going on and I notice Michael has published some plans/drawings of a replacement for the Marina Cafe site on the sea front. See what you mean about flying saucers! I thought it was to be replaced by a reproduction of what was there using modern building methods not 'futuristic' design that'll stick out like a 'sore thumb' on what is supposed to be a listed terrace from numbers 1 to 4. Come on somebody's having a laugh trying to link that monstrosity to what's left of the remaining elevation.

birthday girl......

As you can see my youngest grand daughter celebrated her 2nd birthday and thoroughly enjoyed herself. With the food (remains still to be scraped off!) and party games. Good fun but was I glad to be able to disappear into the garden every now and again; where the weather was definitely 'summer like'. Her older sister will be 5 next March and with starting school last September is becoming more 'lady like'..... My daughter thought it might be a good idea for me to 'look after' Neve now that her sister is at school and that will enable her to relax for a couple of hours or so. Sounds like a good idea to me walkabouts round the town and on the sea front, we'll see!

I've just invested in the latest iPod Classic with 120 GB of memory. Since I've been uploading and saving photos of family and friends I'm looking at nearly 4000 photographs without the audio and video files. Still got 108 GB left to take the movies and music so that'll keep me busy and above all they will be transportable and it has a video screen to watch as well as the standard headphones for the audio tracks. Bit of an upgrade from the 'Walkman' I've been used to...ain't this technology wonderful, when you've worked out the buttons to push.

So....

In my order of preference:

• We've got our own Town Council from next year and God bless all who sail in her. At least they've got plenty to work on. Just walking about locally will ensure there's no shortage of projects for improvement in the area...

• Phase 1 of China Gateway has received the go ahead including all the amendments required to make sure it is 'safe to do so'!

The residents of Acol and the surrounding areas that are now blighted with what looks like a hell on earth scenario; must be sitting on a time bomb if they need to sell up.

I came past Richborough this morning and noticed apart from the 'Siemans' signs on the fencing, there was very little else going on. ECR published a problem with the wind farm development on one of his postings. I expect with the shortage of cash, it'll go on hold for the time being along with much other development; as one of my commentators has said to my thoughts about leaving demolished sites empty for a while.

rest over...back to the grindstone.....

Well back to 'normal'......

What happened to Tuesday and Wednesday, they came and went.....

Fantastic weather so I decided to spend the time in the garden, getting tidy and planting for the coming winter season. It always amazes me how much 'garden stuff' you manage to accumulate over the summer. That will take care of the coming Friday morning going to the tip getting rid of it all and probably meet a few like minded people.

The last two days spent in the sunshine, supping tea and making everything smart and that's in my 'postage stamp' size area. I can quite understand how those with a vast area have to get help! What seemed like a 'walk on the park' (no pun intended), a few years ago could be viewed with panic or just leave it until later; now. Five or so years ago, I made a point of trying to get everything outside pretty maintenance easy. It has paid off so I can take 2 or 3 fine days keeping on top of it all! At least it means when we get the weather to sit out in, I can do just that. It's another room to use.....

just for emergencies......

Got back from my travels over the weekend and thought the above photo was rather apt with previous conversations about the lack of facilities in the town now. My bedroom for the Friday night had this magnificent piece of furniture as my bedside table. An original wash-stand without the matching wash bowl above but the marble top made a good depository for today's mod cons, including phone etc.

The journey was trouble free and a marvellous time was had by all to celebrate a 40th wedding anniversary and some of the speeches from friends and relatives of my era made for interesting listening. The younger generation looked on in amazement that their parents/relatives could have behaved in such a way! Made them realise there was such a time as the 'swinging sixties' and it wasn't just something thought up as a 'history lesson' for them. Some of the fashions worn by their parents and their hairstyles proved they were there and the 'old men' of now did have hair!

I took the opportunity of using almost an hour of video footage which I can play with and send them a DVD for them to keep as a memory of the occasion.

When we finally finished, I fell into bed and the following morning finished my stay with a swim in the pool, steam bath, sauna and a 'proper' breakfast. Duly nourished I returned home during the day through rain storms flooded roads to our part of the globe. Today it was back to reality and catch up with normal life until the next chance to wander down 'memory lane'......

surfing...aha and an alien....

When things go 'pear shaped' technically I mean... It's good to search and read all those 'political and contentious' offerings that pervade the blog site airwaves. It's interesting to note the stuff that 'might happen' vs the stuff that 'has happened'. I suppose when factual news is quiet, a bit of scandel or 'truth stretching' makes for interesting reading. This month should certainly see a few questions answered but I think our local problems will be sorted out and of course the cost of these decisions will be borne by us the tax payers and more decisions will be made to please some and upset others!

One of my students went home yesterday and phoned me as I asked him to; when he got back to his family. On September 3rd he travelled to London to apply for a transit visa from the Belgian authorities. No problem they said so he left his passport and paid the fee, got a receipt and came back here. Last weekend he'd heard nothing and was due to leave October 1st, another trip to London to collect what they had promised to post to him. At the same time he was due to sit an examination, no passport NO EXAM! Picked up his passport from the authorities with NO VISA. Took the exam and came back here. Yesterday he went to Gatwick to catch a plane to Belgium where he intended to pick up his flight to Burundi (Africa). With no visa, if there was any delay in the long haul flight he would be unable to leave Brussels airport and would have to wait there...hey ho!
We think our systems are bad, imagine his predicament. He would have been stuck there because his paperwork made him an alien and transported back to the UK by the Belgian authorities!

here we are again...

It looks as though yesterday's effort was labeled with the correct day. I saved what I'd managed and then edited it this morning and posted with the relevant comments added.

I was trying to thank Nethercourt for his comment we reference to our problem and if it's interfearing with his social life, that's a serious matter!



I must admit to being very much in the dark with these 'technical' misdemeanours. My mind is still firmly stuck in the 'button A and button B' age and to think all this information along with phone calls and TV comes along the same piece of copper wire that's been dangling from my house to the telegraph pole that's been there for the last 30 years plus is nothing short of a miracle! Enough...'cos it can only get better and maybe I'll absorb a bit more....hmmm!



At least the transport situation has improved; started on the button at 4 am this morning and got me back here from Gatwick 4 hours later. So let's hope the next marathon 410 miles at the week end goes OK. I'm glad it's diesel and not petrol. I manage a little over 50 mpg on a run so it doesn't quite 'break the bank'. Sorry, wrong metaphor at this moment in time!



Had a personal visit from a neighbour who's interested in the possible development behind Gina Court AKA Mount Albion House. She too, had read Michael's blog and his publishing of Don Long's various narratives about our area. I directed her to two other people in the viscinity who'd be more up to date with what's going on there, if anything.



Good that our communications are producing results and creating local interest. Let's keep it going.