31 December 2011

All I found was cigarettes and alcohol - It doesn't seem that many years ago when vending machines like these were a common sight on walls outside of newsagents and corner shops. This old Senior Service cigarette vending machine is in Deal, Kent. The most impressive vending machine that I can remember was at Canterbury swimming pool in the early 1970s. You inserted some coins and after a short wait a portion of hot salted chips was dispensed. Discovering this machine after living on the edge of a cliff in Cornwall was like being promoted from The Flintstones to The Jetsons.

30 December 2011

Into the misty morning sun - Young seagull on the end of the jetty in Broadstairs.

29 December 2011

Squeeze me baby, till the juice runs down my leg - Both Lin and myself have had colds all over Christmas, but today mine has taken a turn for the worse and developed into the deadly Man Flu virus (no, I'm not exaggerating, it is deadly!). So all week, fresh lemons and root ginger have been our best friends, and probably because I've also been adding raw garlic to the mixture they have been our only friends.

28 December 2011

Shining in the sun, covering up the shore - Ornate shell.

27 December 2011

A ragged cup, a twisted mop - Close up detail of a bench in the Sailor's Church, The Royal Harbour, Ramsgate.

26 December 2011

Bird bird bird, the bird is the word - I listen to nearly all my music either directly from my computer or with my iPod. At home my computer is connected to my hi-fi and if I'm out walking I use the iPod, even in the van the iPod connects to the van's radio. I do still buy vinyl, both new and second hand, but don't get around to listening to it very often. I recently bought this box set by The Cramps, it contains ten 7" 45s all pressed on nice thick vinyl. When I played them it was a revelation, almost like hearing the songs for the first time again. It's really worth the effort to get up every three minutes and flip the record over. I really hope vinyl will be here for a few more decades yet.

25 December 2011

But when that certain look comes on her face - It's official, if you like sprouts with your Christmas lunch you no long have to worry about the consequences, well not too much anyway. Sainsbury's have published a list of the worst (or maybe that should be the best) vegetables for making you fart. The humble Brussel sprout only makes it to third spot. Second is parsnip and top of the pops are these little beauties the Jerusalem artichoke. Perhaps this is why they are widely known as fartichokes! 

24 December 2011

Each night I ask the stars up above - It's nice to see that love makes a 21 year old feel like a teenager again. Wait until they hit their forties and we'll see how they feel then!

23 December 2011

He was some mother's darlin', he was some mother's son - Could this be the first victim of Christmas 2011? Dumped on the streets of Margate, I always thought a dog was for life. At least his ex owners gave him a piece of carpet before sending him off to a life on the streets with Special Brew and crack.

22 December 2011

Like paper tumbling - Tumble down shed near the cemetery in St Peters.

21 December 2011

Take it home pretty baby - It's not a good idea to have a skip in your garden when you live so close to a park.

20 December 2011

I told you 'bout Strawberry Fields - Red onions from our allotment.

19 December 2011

It rots in a cell, is misguided as hell  - I'm certainly not a big fan of Tesco and their plan for world domination, they take far too much of my money as it is. But, it's got to be better than what's here at the moment, hasn't it?

18 December 2011

A team o' wild horses couldn't tear us apart - If something needs sticking or filling these days there's a tube of sealant that you can put into a skeleton gun and squeeze. I've even come across one that will stick two surfaces together when they are wet.

17 December 2011

What did I do to deserve such a fate I didn't really want to get involved in this thing - Whilst out for a walk this afternoon I saw this graffiti on the old lift shaft above the Port Of Ramsgate. At the moment the Port is still running ships with live animals being sent to Europe for slaughter.

16 December 2011

But tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun - After a day of continuos rain the sun broke through the clouds for the last hour of daylight giving a dramatic end to the day.

15 December 2011

We must have beer, we must have beer, we must have beer today! - Allbright Pale Ale was brewed by the Ramsgate brewers Tomson & Wotton. They were taken over by Whitbread in 1969. The site of the brewery is now where Waitrose stands.

14 December 2011

Well, it's Christmas time pretty baby - It's that time of year again when we fall over the pile of mail on the door mat when we come home. Another stack of Christmas cards, often from people that we haven't had any contact with since swapping Christmas cards last year.


This year I've noticed one supermarket has been printing on the back of their cards that they expect to give up to £700,000 to various charities, but as they pat themselves on the back they neglect to tell us how many millions of pounds they expect to be making from selling Christmas cards, decorations, crackers and everything thing else seasonal.

13 December 2011

Down by the sea - I did catch a few glimpses of it and did pass under it twice, but being away from the sea for any length of time, even a few days makes me miss it. So this morning I walked down to Dumpton Gap to watch and smell the sea.

12 December 2011

Farewell, so long and goodbye - We said goodbye to Le Vaublanc and Brittany this morning and headed back to England via the Channel Tunnel. This was the view as we left the house where we were staying, you can just see the mist coming in from the forest.

11 December 2011

We got no pane in this old window - The part of Brittany where we are staying is full of the most fantastic, rundown buildings that are crying out to be refurbished. This one is in the hamlet of Saint-Sauveur Le Haut.

10 December 2011

Jumpin' like a catfish on a pole - We went into Loudéac today and I found this building. To start with I only saw the side view of it up a side street, but I found the entrance to the courtyard through a archway. It reminded me of the buildings in the Elvis movie King Creole which was set in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

9 December 2011

Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married - The little chapel in the hamlet of Le Vaublanc near Plémet in Brittany, France.

8 December 2011

It's called a dog's life - We spent hour after hour today sitting in a car travelling from Kent down to Brittany. On one of the few breaks that we took I spotted this little dog in the front of a very big lorry.

7 December 2011

It's the needing and the sharing that makes the meal complete - We're off to France tomorrow for a few days. One of the best things about France is the bread, just about anywhere you go you can buy fantastic bread. It's not the same in England, over here it's very hard (but not impossible) to find decent bread, this was the best I could find today in Ramsgate and I had to go to Waitrose to find that.

6 December 2011

Get out of town, get out of town - The harbour and jetty at Broadstairs from Viking Bay.

5 December 2011

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold - Stairs up the side of a gasometer in Deal, Kent.

4 December 2011

All he ever needs is love and that he knows he'll get - Lin and I went with a friend, Chrissy to the Bull Terrier Welfare Trust's Christmas fund raiser or as it's better known the Bulllie Rescue Christmas Party in Milford, Surrey. Neither of us had ever seen so many bull terriers in one place before. It was a great day out and hopefully they raised a lot of money, but as you can see it was a bit too much for some of the dogs. You can read more about the Bull Terrier Welfare Trust on their own website by clicking here and see some more photos here.

3 December 2011

It ain't no big thing (but it's growing) - Most of the vegetables that we grow on our allotment are reasonably successful, but we do have a bit of a problem with garlic. It's not that we can't grow it, it just doesn't grow very big. We've tried garlic from the garden centre and garlic from the greengrocer, but it's always the same. This year we've found some large cloves from a farm shop so hopefully this will give us a good result.

2 December 2011

Bad skin, bad eyes, gay and fatty - Lin and I drove to Bexhill-On-Sea this afternoon to see the Warhol Is Here exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion. Here you can see the rear of the pavilion bathed in the glorious late afternoon sunshine that we enjoyed before going into the show.

1 December 2011

And wishing on the stars up above - Driving home through Margate a couple of hours ago in the pouring rain I couldn't resist stopping and photographing the lights reflected in the seafront puddles.

30 November 2011

When I walk down your street, through your barred windows you look at me - Ramsgate still has some fabulous buildings hidden away, you only need to go off of the main streets a little to find them. It can't be long before beautiful buildings such as this one are turned into luxury apartments.

29 November 2011

In high seas or in low seas - The weather is finally turning, the winds are picking up and the sea is changing too.

28 November 2011

Well I told you once and I told you twice, but you never listen to my advice - Another fine example of stencilled graffiti, this one is hidden from site on Ramsgate seafront.

27 November 2011

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles - We walked from Cliftonville to Westbrook and back this afternoon. It tried very hard to rain, but the sun kept on shinning.

26 November 2011

Turn on your light, let it shine on me - The Lizard is the most southerly point of mainland Britain and one of the things that it's famous for (besides it's famous sons) is serpentine. Serpentine is a metamorphic rock that has veins running through it and at the Lizard it is turned into various ornamental souvenirs, one of the most popular shapes is the lighthouse.

25 November 2011

Robbing people with a zip gun - In a couple of hours we are off to Folkestone to see The Bad Shepherds for the third time. The Bad Shepherds are a great folk band fronted by Adrian Edmondson and they play punk songs in a folk style and are fantastic live!


Here's a better description direct from their website:



The Bad Shepherds play punk songs on folk instruments. Not as a gag, but because we really like the noise. We think the songs are better than people remember. We love folk instruments. It works. We do songs by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Stranglers, The Jam, Sham 69, The Undertones, The Buzzcocks, The Ramones, The Specials, Talking Heads, Squeeze and others, even Kraftwerk! Alright, they're not all punk, but they come from roughly the same era. We've mostly given the songs a kind of Celtic feel, and we've stuck in the odd reel and jig here and there. But occassionally we just thrash! I've always thought the excitement of a reel taking off is the nearest thing to the excitement of watching punk live in the 70's.


I love the songs of 76 - 82. I was 19 in 76 when punk arrived. Those songs were the soundtrack to my life as I went through Uni and started pretending to be a comedian. I loved the noise, the faces and the attitude. I love making music. Got my first guitar when I was 13 and along the way I've picked up ten other guitars, a banjo, a ukelele, two trumpets, a banjolele, a mandolin, an autoharp, a charanga, two pianos, a tenor guitar, a triangle and even made myself some Coconuts (strangely enough - from a coconut). I also love folk music, I love the noise - at its live best its the most exciting music to be in the same room with. It occured to me that punk was the folk music of its day.


I decided to form a band to reflect all of the above. It would be great if you came along for the ride.


Cheers, Adrian

24 November 2011

Lay down your arms - Terracotta warrior in an egg cosy.

23 November 2011

Fish on the table and fish on the fire - I made the most of the good weather this morning and took a walk down to Ramsgate's Royal Harbour. It's very much a working harbour and still has a reasonable sized fishing fleet.

22 November 2011

Red for danger - Collection of old oil lamp chimneys.

21 November 2011

I'd rather die than say goodbye - We left a misty Cornwall this morning on the A30, stopping only to photograph these three Cornish flags.

20 November 2011

Take a look around, tell me what you see - Another day spent walking around Falmouth looking for things that other people may miss.

19 November 2011

Down in the alley, we sure have fun - Falmouth, like many old sea ports is full of little alleyways and they all have their own tales to tell. The difference here is that they are much steeper than most other places.

18 November 2011

Well, don't you know about the bird - Pair of cormorants on the rocks near Pendennis Castle in Falmouth.

17 November 2011

Take a walk with me, down by the sea -After driving from one side of the country to the other and arriving in Falmouth just before the sun disappeared for the night, what's the first thing we did? We went down to the beach and watched the tide come in.

16 November 2011

I wished on them, but they were only satellites - I have walked up and down this road in Ramsgate hundreds of times and it wasn't until last year that I noticed this sign underneath the magnificent arch. It goes to show that there's always something brand new to see, even if it is very old.

15 November 2011

Burn that candle night and day - We can put the candles and matches away now. After a worrying few days I have managed to fix the gas fire and we can have some real heat in the evenings again!

14 November 2011

Bad fog of loneliness - We've had a lot of fog over the last few days, mainly overnight and in the morning, but today it hung around all day. On Joss Bay this afternoon you could hardly tell where the sea ends and the sky begins.

13 November 2011

The news is out, all over town - Another day of British Formula 1 success, congratulations to the McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton for winning the race and to Jenson Button for coming third!

12 November 2011

You know I miss warm cookin' mama, that you lay down - If you see a cookbook that looks like this, then you know it works. A good cookbook should be dog eared and stained, it should fall open at your favourite recipes. All the recipes in the book will probably work, unlike modern cookbooks written (perhaps) by some celebrity chef that's produced on such a tight schedule that not all the recipes have time to be tested.