He was a bad motorcycle, boom-boom-boom - When I was fourteen and fifteen I used to dream of owning a Fantic Motor Chopper when I was sixteen. They made a 50cc version (above) and a 125cc. I used to cycle to Cliftonville to look at them and pick up sales literature from the dealership which I think was called Bocorum. They also sold Harley Davidsons, the small Italian made AMF Harleys and BMWs. Sadly (or maybe not) I never did own one, when I was sixteen I ended up with a Honda, and I still ride one today.
I came across this one today at the Herne Bay Car And Bike show. You can easily tell that it's the 50cc version by the pedals which all mopeds used to have. Note the nice Fizzy beside it.
To his Martian foes a dangerous name - A 1967 Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons mug, it's seen better days but so far at least, like the good Captain himself it's proved to be indestructible!
Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo - The amazing amount of good weather we've had during April has brought on lots of plants early like this Clematis Montana.
When your prized possessions start to wear you down - This is a close up detail of an amazing artwork made by my friend Ruth Geldard.
Tighten up your bootlace and hit the sand hills by the sea - In our road we have a pair of seagulls who seem unwilling to make a nest on top of a chimney stack like most other gulls are doing at the moment. They will sleep on the pavement and spend all day walking up and down the road or sitting on top of cars. They seem to have no fear of either people or cars and the local cats don't even worry them.
I can go no further, because you got me chained and bound - We went to Chilham today and planned to walk around the lake, but sadly half of it is now locked behind gates with No Trespassing signs on them. I don't know why this is, can anyone shed any light on it?
Just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine - This pillbox is alongside the A299 Thanet Way near Marshside, it's one of those things that I've wanted to photograph for a long time, but the right time never came along. I made the effort today whilst on an early morning motorbike ride.
A dragon had been devouring maidens - As today is St George's Day what better way to illustrate it than with a George Cross?
I was breezy, now I'm swaying - I stumbled across this boundary marker whilst walking from Ramsgate to Margate today, it's just outside of the cemetery at St Peter's Church and I must of passed it hundreds of times before and never really paid much attention to it.
Set up your drill in the middle of my field - I had to borrow a SDS drill from a friend to complete a little DIY job. Luckily, I didn't have to use this evil looking bit!
Growin' up rusty shack, all I had was hangin' on my back - Sometimes I miss having friends that smoke. There always used to be someone who rolled their own and would give you the empty tins for your shed to store screws, washers, drill bits or any other odds and sods you didn't have a place for.
When I first met you girl you didn't have no shoes - It's very unusual these days to find an interesting piece of vinyl in a junk shop, but the other day I came across a copy of I'm A Believer by The Monkees in it's original company sleeve. Of course, not many people would want this single for the A side, it's the B side that's of interest. (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone is a great track and quite different to their well known songs. Many people of my age may be more familiar with the version by the Sex Pistols, which again is quite different to a lot of their other tracks.
No use to no one else, they've all dried up - I found this label during a recent walk along the beach in Ramsgate. From what I can tell it appears to be something to do with fishing boats in the north east Atlantic, but what's interesting is that if you use Google's translation tool to translate the bottom line it reads "sin northeast Atlantic". It's only when you leave the two accents of off the e's in the Péché that it makes sense "North-east Atlantic fisheries".
Too fast to live too young to die - The Sunday before Easter is the traditional date for the Whitstable Easter Egg Run where bikers from all over the South East meet up in Whitstable and take Easter Eggs to children who otherwise may not receive them. Normally we go to a special school in Canterbury, but this year we went to a local Whitstable school. It's hard to guess how many bikes come along, but I'd estimate that as we rode down the Thanet Way the line of bikes stretched for over two miles.
You can almost taste the hot dogs and French fries they sell - We took advantage of the warm weather and had a ride out to Eastbourne. As the tide was right out we walked under the pier. Piers are amazing structures, and even more so when viewed from underneath. It's clear to see that a lot of the iron work at the top has been replaced fairly recently, but most of the lower iron work looks as though it could be from the 1870s when the pier was originally built.
No one I think is in my tree - this may not look very interesting or exciting to most people, but to Lin and myself it's a great sign. It's the first strawberry flower on our allotment this year and it means we will soon be picking those glorious red fruits.
It's not quite a Jaguar - stumbled across this Morris Minor next to some old railway carriages whilst walking around the old boat yard in Faversham.
Forever you'll be there - interesting stencil in the back of a garden chair.
Like a queen in days of old - whilst staying at a friend's house I saw this mosaic lamp shade with the sunlight coming through it.
Another Little Bit Gets Lost - This is part of the rear wall of The Grange in Ramsgate, the home of Augustus Pugin. Built between 1843 and 1844, I'm sure these worn lumps of sandstone were very decorative in their time, but sitting on top of the cliff overlooking the sea for over 160 years has turned them into strange abstract shapes. I can clearly see a face in this one, looking to the left and slightly away from the camera, maybe wearing a mortar board.
But right now I'll just sit here so contentedly - Because of the early start to today's Formula 1 Grand Prix we had a very early dog walk on the beach. This was taken just after seven this morning as the tide was going out and leaving rivers forming in the soft sand.
You ain't never caught a rabbit - as promised a couple of days ago here is a picture of Jasper's brother Pipkin and just for a change, he's sleeping.
Weren't you at the coke convention back on nineteen sixty-five? - With the opening of the Turner Contemporary just a week away is Margate ready for it? What will the 5,000 expected visitors coming to the opening day think about The Lido?
I don't have nowhere to go - Whilst walking along the main sands at Ramsgate this morning I came across two men enjoying the sunshine with a lager and a roll up. Behind them on the Royal Pavilion was their panda, complete with lager and a hat. Strangely, he had disappeared from the other side of Ramsgate yesterday, but when they came down to the beach this morning there he was sitting on the Pavilion.
All my life I've been in the dog house - We've been looking after two whippets for a couple of friends whilst they are away on holiday. This is Jasper who is incredibly camera shy, the best way to get a picture of him is when he's asleep which, fortunately is often. I'll try and get a shot of his brother Pipkin before they have to go home.
Nestled in your hollow shoulder - Yesterday whilst in Belgium I visited one of the many First World War Cemeteries. The one I went to was Butts New British Cemetery in Polygon Woods near Ieper. Now it is a very beautiful and serene place but you really cannot imagine what it was like there nearly a hundred years ago and how many young men lost their lives there. I picked this pine cone up in the woods just outside the cemetery as a reminder of what happened there.
It's not the barley or the wheat, it's not the oven or the heat - during a whistle stop tour of Northern France and Belgium with a friend I stopped at a patisserie with a typical French name of Paul, in a little town called Tourcoing Roncq. Through a window in the shop I watched the baker take cooked bread out of the oven and then put more dough in to bake. I couldn't resist going next door to photograph him. Sadly I can't speak French and he couldn't speak any English so we didn't get to have much of a chat.
You keep playin' where you shouldn't be playin' - Everyone has a favourite pair of footwear, but I expect that most people's choice is a pair of shoes or boots in much better condition than these. My favourites are this old pair of real, English made Dr Martin boots. As you can tell I've had them for years and I can't throw them away. They are still reasonably comfortable, they leak a bit when it's wet and sometimes they even get a bit of polish, but I really don't know what I could replace them with.
Chop off your head so you better relax - Whenever I see a door like this I always wonder what's behind it that's so precious and worthy of such a strong door? The truth is that there's probably nothing interesting at all behind the door.
Screws Get Loose - I thought that today being April Fool's Day it would be a good time to photograph these screws and tell the story behind them. A short while ago I noticed that I had lost a very small screw from the back of my camera, nothing seemed to of fallen off or was loose, so I left it. Then, at the beginning of this week I finally got around to phoning Nikon and asking about a replacement. Whilst talking to the guy I thought I may as well order a spare in case the same thing happens again. Anyway to cut a long story short, 2 screws (about 4mm in length), some VAT and a bit of P&P - grand total £5.02. Ever feel like you've been screwed?
