31 August 2011

Sweet kiwi, your juices dripping down my chin - Close up of kiwi fruits.

30 August 2011

I'm seein' double, I'm seein' double - This is a Vistascreen 3D viewer and a stereo card from the early 1960s. It was Britain's answer to the very popular View Master. The trouble with the View Master was that it was American and most of the content for it had an American bias, so the Vistascreen system produced stereo cards more suitable for the British market. Vistascreen's photographer, Stanley Long had in the 1950s produced a series of tasteful nude studies from his Soho studio. This probably goes to explain some of the more adult content that was available.

29 August 2011

Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead - Something that's missing from modern cars is the figurehead, the little statue that sits on the front of the bonnet and says this car is expensive. This lady is on the front of a 1939 Triumph Dolomite 14/64 Roadster Coupe.

28 August 2011

I show you how to walk the dog - Otto likes to make friends and although he's not a big fan of being taken for a walk himself he was keen to take his pal Diesel out for a bit of exercise.

27 August 2011

Come on, wheels, take this boy away - Ramsgate has the only royal harbour in the country and it's a great place to explore with lots of things to see.

26 August 2011

When it rains, it really pours... - It's the Friday before the last Bank Holiday weekend of the summer. Take a look out of the window and see the weather.

25 August 2011

Climbin' trees free as a song - Walking home through the park earlier I heard a very strange noise a bit like a cross between a cat and a bird being strangled. I looked up and saw this little fellow screeching. I didn't even know that squirrels made a vocal noise.

24 August 2011

And the warm wind crawls through the castle walls - How many children have visited the beach and not built a sand castle? Slowly crumbling away until the tide comes in and washes it away.

23 August 2011

You're gonna be guacamole before too long - Close up of an avocado slicer.

22 August 2011

Make every song you sing your favorite tune - Shoulder badge from a Trinity House lighthouse keeper's uniform.

21 August 2011

Sing if you're happy that way - I'm guessing that this is an advertising slogan that Gaymer's Cyder wouldn't be using in the 2010s. This comes from an old 1960s beer mat.

20 August 2011

There's a garden outside she works in every day - Following on from yesterday's post, maybe someone should start a campaign to save all tumble down allotment sheds.

19 August 2011

Well there's a leak in this old building - This hut is in Pierremont Park, Broadstairs and its been there for about 90 years. The local council want to pull it down and build a new community centre, but campaigners are up in arms over it. I know that some trees will come down which of course isn't a good thing and that it may set a precedent for building in the park, but not all old buildings need to be saved. In fact this one really needs to be pulled down. 

18 August 2011

She shoots colours all around - Like a good computer user I make regular back ups, normally to an external hard drive, but often to DVDs as well. When picking up one of these discs it's hard to resist moving it around in the light and watching the colours that appear on the disc, it's like a digital kaleidoscope.

17 August 2011

My eyes make pictures when they're shut - Lin and I were invited to the unveiling of a Blue Plaque that recognises that the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge live at 3 Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate during the 1830s. The plaque was unveiled by author and journalist Clive Aset. The Blue Plaques have been organised by the Ramsgate Society and there are about 20 around the town.

16 August 2011

But if you're gonna start a rumble, don't you try it on alone - This was the item that started my Elvis collection. It was given to me by my Mum's cousin when I was eight or nine years old. It's an unlicensed combination money box from the late 1950s. In all my years of collecting Elvis memorabilia I have never seen another one. Nor have I met any other collector who can tell me anything about it.

15 August 2011

God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties - Riding back from Canterbury to Ramsgate I went through Stodmarsh. Hidden away on a back road in the Kent countryside it has to be one of the prettiest villages in England.

14 August 2011

Stop your messing with me - Seventy years ago this would of been a great sight in skies of Kent, a Jerry Messerschmitt hit by one of our boys and going down. It's no wonder this part of the country became known as Hellfire Corner during The Battle Of Britain. Today it's just a re-enactment over what was RAF Manston, our nearest airfield to mainland Europe and the German armies and one of the first to be heavily bombed in The Battle Of Britain.

13 August 2011

It's sizzling blood and the unholy stench - Along with over 400 other people I marched through Ramsgate to protest about the exporting of live animals through the Port Of Ramsgate. The poster held by this lady explains the whole story.

12 August 2011

All your dreams are on their way - It's not very often that I'm a passenger in a car, but today I travelled to Essex and back, not only as a passenger, but in the back seat. I took the opportunity to have a good look at the view from the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Sadly it was a grey and overcast day.

11 August 2011

He's a natural born poet, he's just outta sight - This is something that a lot of people would not of seen before, a telegram. Used to send urgent messages or as in this case greetings in the days before most homes had telephones, emails, FaceSpace or MyBook. The sender would give his message to the operator who would then send it by code to the nearest Post Office to the destination. Once typed out it would be delivered as quickly as possible usually by motorbike.


This one was sent to my parents on their wedding day from my Gran, Granddad and Auntie Betty. There was obviously a tradition in sending telegrams on days like this as Mum, Pop and Betty all attended the wedding and it was sent over a distance of less than ten miles.

10 August 2011

Women seem wicked when you're unwanted - Broadstairs Folk Week is now in full swing, the whole town is taken over by musicians, dancers and people who want a good time. All you have to do is stand on a corner and within a few minutes something will happen right in front of you. It's been going for over forty years and shows no sign of slowing down.

9 August 2011

I told you about the fool on the hill - Our crop of onions and shallots have now been lifted, left to bake in the sun for a couple of days and are now hanging from the roof of the shed.

8 August 2011

Are you a lucky little lady in The City of Light? - As it's Broadstairs Folk Week at the moment we walked in this evening and looked around the craft tent, then went to watch a band play in one of the pubs. We left after the first set and walked back to Ramsgate along the cliff top.

7 August 2011

You know I could never be alone - When you live with someone who is passionate about something you get used to their odd habits. Even though Lin runs her own gardening business she is still very passionate about gardening. Everywhere she goes especially at this time of year she pulls dead heads or seed pods off of flowers and plants and quietly slips them into a tissue and then her pocket. The shelves in her garden shed are littered with envelopes of seeds and dead heads like these.

6 August 2011

They got a-eyes for this, they got a-ears for that - This is the unofficial allotment cat, she's called Mitzi and runs up and greets me on most of my visits. There are several other cats that roam around the plots, but none as friendly as she is. Last year I was fortunate enough to be given a dead mouse and a dead rat, both were left prominently on our plot for me to find, I know she means well but I'd rather have something more useful.

5 August 2011

Where you and I can dance till break of day - This afternoon we went to the funeral and wake of a very good friend. Then later we drove to Sandwich and walked along by the river and across the golf course to Sandwich Bay. When it's quiet there it's one of the most peaceful places around.

4 August 2011

Fool, fool, fool, that I was to fall for you - Blackberry fool

3 August 2011

Go ahead, pretty baby, a-honey, knock yourself out - Looking like a 3D map of a very small city this is the inside of my DVD recorder. It recently developed a major problem and wouldn't find any digital TV channels. The makers, Panasonic said that it's four years old now so throw it away and buy a new one. Well they would, wouldn't they? So armed with a screwdriver, soldering iron and a pair of side cutters I opened it up, cut off the faulty capacitor and replaced it with a new one which cost 30p. Thanks Panasonic, when I need some advice in future I'll go straight to Google!

2 August 2011

She left me standing here just high and dry - Whilst riding between Selling and Sheldwich this morning I noticed what I thought was an old yacht out of the corner of my eye. I stopped and walked back and sure enough it was an old wooden yacht sitting behind a garden wall. Behind the yacht you can just see the roof of an old van, but beyond the van is an old Routemaster double decker bus and several other old vehicles.

1 August 2011

Here's another misfit, another Jimmy Dean - Standing tall and erect in the wildflower section of the allotment is a teasel. Teasels are great for attracting bees and therefore helping pollination on the plot.