the weekend ahead...

I know the weekend is upon us. My encumbents (students) start to go on their jaunts visiting the sites near and far. Some manage to get out across to France for the day or venture up north to Scotland by coach.

It seems to be the thing now to go to European countries for the weekend. The Eurostar train service that stops at Ashford International (from November Ebbsfleet!) on its way to London from France and Belgium. Has certainly widened the appeal of our area for foreign students studying English language. Peter whose picture I've uploaded above is going home to Switzerland for the weekend. He's got a meeting today, several meetings tomorrow and then journeys back here on Sunday ready for his Monday morning class at 9am. Stefan a student from 2 years ago (pictured left) is here in the UK and pops in to see us will be going back to Germany this weekend by train. His return here to Ramsgate next week will be marked by the eating of the lovely German breakfast rolls for a few days.

My daughter confirmed her family's availibility for Christmas Day lunch at the Minnis Bay Restaurant. So no washing and clearing up just feast and enjoy for this special day... Going to enjoy the 'small people's' company over the Christmas break.

in the pink...!

Been a little bit rushed off the feet since I last spoke. Peter's bike packed up again! Flat tyre, gears... and brakes, mmm... Phoned the man and he assured me he'd be down to sort it. He did and so far, as I told him when he phoned today, no problems. Peter's gone home to Switzerland for a long weekend so maybe next week he can go personally to the Bike Shop and talk to Ken, who has worked hard to sort out the problems. What a change from my ongoing exterior decorating problem. Still, more on that when I hear what's happening in the hopefully, not too distant future.

Made an appointment to have a personal MOT with my local GP and the first thing he said was 'have you been keeping out of mischief?'. Has he been reading my profile or was it just a luck guess? The answer was yes, just... Everything tested OK so that's it for another 6 months or so.

Now the surgery has moved to this super duper NHS funded new building overlooking Sir Moses's missus burial plot. I thought I'd have a nice walk along the sea front and visit the newly refurbished Italianate greenhouse in the grounds of the old EastCliff Lodge. What a treat but the vandals have struck again, smashing some of the fishtail glass panels! I'm afraid there's no point in throwing money at these projects if you don't leave enough in the kitty for security and maintenance. Once the capital expenditure's been made, that's it...
I said I wasn't going to use my blog site for any form of argument but it seems this wonderful piece of Ramsgate on which a lot of money has been spent will be ruined again. But, doesn't that apply to many projects nationally unless allowance is made for that essential TLC and that costs money!!