31 March 2011

Runnin' down the avenue - It's a fantastic time of the year! As I said yesterday we are a quarter of the way through it and at 7:20 in the evening there is still a trace of sunlight in the sky.

30 March 2011

Time is marching on - it's hard to believe that we are almost at the end of March and that come tomorrow we will be quarter of the way through 2011 and quarter of the way through this project. This is the March slab of the sun dial in Northdown Park, Cliftonville.

29 March 2011

When I said Joe sent me, someone laughed out loud - I've known this door for very nearly forty years, passed it regularly and have never seen it open, not once, not even a crack.

28 March 2011

But I just want to sing the blues - This is Otto, an English Bull Terrier who's not very keen on going for a walk. There is a scene in the movie Pulp Fiction where John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson are talking about dog's having personality and all I can add to that is that Otto has a lorry load of personality!

27 March 2011

She got muffins and scones, she got corn bread too - For some reason I always read Kobb in the baker's shop name as Knob! It raises a titter every time I pass it. I can see Sid James as the baker and Hattie Jacques serving behind the counter.

26 March 2011

I'm gonna blast outta here about noon - when I re-roofed my garden shed a couple of years ago, instead of putting a traditional diamond piece of timber up on the side apex, I thought I'd do something a bit more interesting. So I made myself a 1950s cartoon style rocket-ship, which I think is a lot more fun, the spiders seem to like it too in the autumn and winter. There was very nearly a David Bowie pun there, but I resisted.

25 March 2011

Breakin' rocks in the hot sun - this is Tony Hyde, a good friend of mine. Sadly, Tony is another casualty of the current economic situation, he is having to close his long running picture framing business Picture This, based in Birchington, Kent.


I like to take this opportunity to wish Tony all the best for whatever he does in the future.

24 March 2011

In the mornin' when we rise - I bought Lin a couple of bunches of Chrysanthemums and the colours were so incredible I had to take a photograph of them. Plus I like to tell everyone that I still buy flowers for my wife.

23 March 2011

She lives in the basement - I came across this old wooden crate recently and thought it would be the perfect prop for something else that I want to photograph, but it's such a fantastic box I thought it would be a waste to only use it once.

22 March 2011

End of the pier, end of the bay - The end of Herne Bay pier sits 3,787 feet from the shore having been separated from the other end in 1978 during a storm. The centre section was demolished in 1980, but the head proved too tough and remains, reminding us of days gone by. Since then there has been a lot of talk about rebuilding or building a new pier, but sadly nothing has ever materialised.

21 March 2011

Send the sunshine down my way - another glorious day with the temperature in double figures. It feels like it could be the hottest day of the year so far, not that I've had much chance to see very much of it, but on the way to the Post Office I saw the blossom on this tree and couldn't resist photographing it.

20 March 2011

I am a lazy son, I never get things done - not only was there a very high tide at Herne Bay this morning, but it was deadly still, almost eerie.

19 March 2011

When he shouted "Who's there?" - we had to make a 400 mile round trip to Weymouth toady to visit relatives and I didn't have much time to get my camera out, but I did manage to get a shot of Karen and Geoff's chickens just as they had been fed.

18 March 2011

Lead her away from this foreign land - The Matthew has more or less completed it's transformation into The Dawn Treader. I had hoped to be around tomorrow to watch it sail out of Ramsgate and get some better pictures of it, but I'm not going to be able to do that now. In case you missed it you can see how The Matthew looked before by going to 16 March 2011.

17 March 2011

Carry it home and cook it for supper - here's some of the seedlings that were planted on Sunday, just four days ago!

16 March 2011

Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy - The Matthew is moored in Ramsgate harbour at the moment, this is a 1996 replica of the ship that John Cabot set sail in back in 1497, he thought he was headed towards Asia, but ended up discovering North America.


More recently The Matthew played the starring role in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. She is about to be refitted to the way she looked in that movie and sail to London for the launch of the DVD next week.

15 March 2011

It's going to be a bright, bright sun shiny day - looking like a scene from a Stephen King movie Deal pier disappears into the distance. This was shot from the end of the pier looking towards the land in some of the worst fog that I can remember for a very long time.

14 March 2011

As I was motivatin' over the hill - What seems like a lifetime ago, but was only in 1983 Lin and I saw Chuck Berry at Margate's Winter Gardens. They were running a Jazz Festival at the time and by mistake booked Chuck Berry! I can't remember the whole story, but it really was a mistake. After the gig we hung around hoping to get an autograph, but he rushed out and didn't even see us. Then I saw someone I knew who had been working backstage so I asked him to go and have a look in Chuck's dressing room and see if he had left anything that I could have as a memento. I'm not sure what I was expecting, maybe a guitar? What I did get was this match book from the Universal Match company of St Louis with Chuck's name across the front.

13 March 2011

'Gators got your granny - it's the time of year to start planting vegetable seed. This year I'm hoping to give them a bit of a head start with a hearted propagator.

12 March 2011

Well, I followed her to the station - whilst out for a ride on the motorbike today we stopped in Tenterden and walked down to the station of The Kent & East Sussex Railway. It looked really interesting and we've made a mental note to go back again and take a ride.

11 March 2011

Well, they took my television - Hoser's Corner, this used to be a busy corner of Cliftonville, filled with holiday makers buying souvenirs to take home. Now there's no souvenirs, no holiday makers, no shops and not even a roof. It's been like this for years, at least there is a sign up now saying that the site is going up for auction.

10 March 2011

Everybody knows that the bird is the word! - A trip to Sandwich is not complete without visiting and of course, feeding the ducks by the river.

9 March 2011

You can stand on the corner in your baby blue suit - all towns have their famous residents, past and present. Broadstairs has a few, but Oliver Postgate and his work were probably not known to most of the town's residents before he died in 2008. Oliver, of course was the creator of Bagpuss, The Clangers, Pogles' Wood and many other children's favourites. He lived in a large house just off of the seafront. The Clangers mosaic below the blue plaque was made by Martin Cheek, another of the town's artists who I believe at one time worked with Oliver.

8 March 2011

The sun, the sand, the sea are waiting - after a break for the winter I have recently started selling my old postcard collection on eBay. I started the collection when I was about 6 years old and by the time I was 10, I was bored with it. I had looked at and read every card, stacked them in every possible way, seaside ones together, windmills together, Cornish ones, American ones, until there was nothing left to do with them.


I thought I had thrown them away once, but it turns out my Mum retrieved them from the dustbin as I found them in her shed about five or six years ago. They date from the early 1900s and go up to the early 1970s, plus some that Mum added over the years going up to the late 20th century. So, a few at a time I stick them on eBay and hopefully some of them will find a new home.


If you're interested in postcards check out my listings by clicking here.

7 March 2011

I may appear to be imperfect - old shoe picked up off the beach at Whitstable last month.

6 March 2011

Go where those dreams are granted - we visited Lowestoft today which as you can see from the plaque above is the most easterly part of Great Britain, but judging by the temperature, I would say that it is also the coldest!

5 March 2011

I asked you please to cross me off your list - pair of toy cars abandoned on the beach near the pier at Great Yarmouth.

4 March 2011

Here is a rainbow for your hair - damaged supermarket sign, but the interesting thing about it is what's inside. I worked in the sign industry many years ago and signs such as this were illuminated by neon tubes inside the letters. This looks as though it has individual lights (possibly LED) inside.

3 March 2011

All in the wonderful game - we made an overnight visit to see my brother Brian and his wife Dawn. He dug out this old cribbage board that belonged to our Dad. It was one of the first things he made as an apprentice at Trinity House's Blackwall depot. As for the game of crib, I still can't get my head around one for his nob!

2 March 2011

Brick By Brick - amazing brick built three piece suite in the park by York Street in Ramsgate.

1 March 2011

Do you remember rock 'n' roll radio? - If you know where to look you can see the remains of several of these old painted shop signs and advertisements on walls around Ramsgate. This one reads Wireless Depot, for all makes of receiving sets. In case you're wondering where this is, it's above an empty shop in Bellevue Road.