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Folkestone double death plunge smash horror tragedy!

Yoinks, yesterday someone chucked themselves off the roof of Bouverie Square in Folkestone, and today the end of our road was sealed off by police because of a "scene". Police were stopping anyone getting close to what had happened, so a) we had to walk home via a circuitous route, and b) no I didn't get any photos / videos / close up viewing details of what had gone on.

Actually wrote that yesterday and then Clare made me think about whether I should write about things like that or not. Of course I should, this is for me to remember where I was and what I was doing and things. Any local events are worth a mention. Perhaps making a horror death map tour of the town on google maps or something would be going to far, but it might be interesting to see local murder points, or the inevitable floral tributes. Look, what's likely to happen first, I write publish something insensitive and gory, or I just get too dull and other people stop reading?

I didn't go out of my way to find out anything about the Bouverie Square (newish town centre shopping complex, Asda, Starbucks, HMV, etc) suicide, I first overheard at work that something had happened "opposite SAGA". Although I was back in work, jetlagged and holiday-hungover, Clare had another day off and was spending part of it walking to Hythe, so right past SAGA HQ. Clare wasn't answering her phone, but she spotted it and called me back, she'd been in to town and heard all about the tragedy there from someone who worked in Asda.

Further details emerged on the way home, I had borrowed a car from work and gave someone else a lift back to Folkestone, he'd been on Facebook and the other gossip networks and heard from people who'd apparently been there, and there were seemingly plenty of witnesses, some of them holding up their camera phones as it all happened (although an apparent eye-witness has checked in to say this is NOT TRUE). So that's why I don't have any firm details, I'm not googling for it in case someone more awful than me has a YouTube clip or something.

Going to be a fairly lazy day today, hopefully I will get round to sorting my holiday photos and trying to remember some details of what we actually did while we were in Key West. Yesterday we had a bit of a day out - it's a bank holiday, so a free day, so let's do something different. We ended up in Ramsgate - it's rubbish, but the harbour side cafes were OK on such a nice day, and it does have a Pizza Express. We tried a few pubs, but could not find ANY local beer, how odd. So we headed back after lunch and jumped off the train at Deal briefly - much nicer there, went to the very cool The Bohemian pub / bar, and happened to be at the station at the same time as The Orient Express. Well, the English leg of it anyway. Lots of people suited and buoted on the platform, very odd.

We came home from Deal quite early just to stay in and catch up on Lost and House and loads of low quality quiz shows on BBC iPlayer.

Mighty Easter weekender, with The Cure

Hope you've all had as good an extended weekend as I have. As is usual when I've been off for a few days and not written up just went on immediately, I'm starting to forget it all. We're up now, on the last day of our five day break and I have a few minutes computer time, so I'm making a few notes while I'm processing some video from The Cure and trying to get hold of The Colour Of Magic.

Thursday

We started off for London about midday, nice quick easy train journey with Dom and Jen, nice to be getting the train for pleasure, not like having to commute on it. We had vouchers for free main courses for Wagamama, so into Soho in the rain. Food was better than it has been recently in Canterbury I think. Then to a pub, can't remember the name of it though it's a Nicholson's so I can track it down, that'll be The Crown, Brewer Street. Didn't realise they were part of such a monstrous chain of other brands, though it certainly feels like a pub themed venue inside, but they do have proper beer so I'm not complaining. We contemplated the best time and way to get to Wembley, in the end it was just head down in the rain to Picadilly and we're on our way. Wembley seems a long way out but if you catch the right Metropolitan line tube you're there in no time.

Our hotel was fine, despite the ropey reviews on tripadvisor. I'd not recommend it unless you were going to Wembley, and the decor is maybe a bit dated, but the bed was comfortable and big, the lifts worked, the bar was open, it was fine. Cheeky drink in said bar before the gig (as there are just no pubs around there) and into the gig.

Didn't see any of the support band, just got in in time for the start of the gig. Pretty amazing show all told, I have got a few songs on video and some pics to upload, the sound and the atmosphere were great. You'll see from the media (I have yet to upload) that we were about ten or fifteen rows back from the front, apart from the bit were Dom disappeared to the front, dropping our five pints on the way... At this point Clare objects

That's not what happened and you shouldn't say that as he will read it. He went into the crowd, then came out again, then went to the bar and thought he'd get us all drinks, then couldn't get back to us all with two pints in one hand and three in the other, so he ended up giving them away.

I was adding colour to the story, that's how I'd rather remember it, it's simpler. Don't you really want to picture someone struggling to the front of the moshpit with five pints?
Setlist was approximately as we thought from previous gigs:

plainsong, prayers for rain, a strange day, alt.end, a night like this, the end of the world, lovesong, to wish impossible things, pictures of you, lullaby, from the edge of the deep green sea, hot hot hot!!!, please project, the walk, push, friday i'm in love, inbetween days, just like heaven, primary, a boy i never knew, shake dog shake, never enough, wrong number, one hundred years, disintegration,
E1: at night, m, play for today, a forest,
E2: the lovecats, let's go to bed, freak show, close to me, why can't i be you?
E3: three imaginary boys, fire in cairo, boys don't cry, jumping someone else's train, grinding halt, 10:15 saturday night, killing an arab

We met someone with a setlist during the gig, but "Killing an Arab" was written as "Killing Another", I wonder why? In case the list fell into the wrong hands and looked like a racist murder plot? You could work the last encore into one story certainly, not so sure about "The Lovecats" though.

Here's three songs in a row from the set, the only complete songs I videod on my little camera. First Walking On Sunshine Why Can't I Be You from my spot in the crowd. It looks like the opening credits to "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" but the sound is OK, and gives you a feel for where we were and how they were sounding:

And Three Imaginary Boys:

Also Fire In Cairo:

They played for about 3 and a half hours, it didn't feel like it though. We had one more drink back at the bar (I was on lager all evening, unheard of, this is why I don't go to gigs any more). I have about a gigabyte of video, hope it won't take me too long to edit it into watchable youtube chunks. Don't stay in waiting especially though, the visuals are not impressive, but you can experience where I was in the crowd and hear the tunes.

Friday

Nice lazy start to the Friday, didn't have to check out until midday. We'd already had more action than most weekends and this one hadn't officially started yet. We shopped first, well we went to Selfridges and Clare got pissed off with me not being helpful, so she left me in Starbucks to sit and read while she tried to shop, then we walked round Carnaby Street (which is really nice now), had lunch with Emma in a Thai place near there, did some retro shopping, afternoon coffee in the brilliant Pain Quotidien and then trained back home.

The rain and snow wasn't quite so bad, and we'd arranged to meet pa-in-law for a drink, so we headed to Chambers for their traditional Easter Ales Festival. Not that busy when we got there, and not the traditional festival crowd, but a great range of ales and ciders anyway. Can't remember what I started off with, something nice anyway, but second beer was a "Haba-beer-o" special edition chilli beer. Was sceptical, but it was brilliant, a strong savoury chilli taste to it, and a little bit of heat too. Instead of flitting from ale to ale rating them as I went, I stuck to this one for the rest of the evening. Well, it's a limited edition, you don't know when it's going to run out, or if I'll see it again.
Spoke to the landlord, he recognised me as having the quiz team name Folkestone Gerald and asked if it was me that wrote it. He didn't look like he wanted a fight, and I don't think there's been anything objectionable for ages, so I 'fessed up, and he said he loved it. Probably just for all the favourable mentions of Chambers, well here's another. Chambers is brilliant, you should go there, best pub in Folkestone by a mile.

Saturday

Up early for house hunting. Saw a lovely place in a different area of Canterbury, 3 bedrooms, garage, conservatory, shed, everything. Top of our budget and I don't think we can compete with other buyers really, I'm sure it'll go soon. If it doesn't, we'll think again. Then saw another place over by Canterbury West, not the nicest street and a bit unloved. Nice and cheap for a three bedroom place, but unfortunately no room to put even a single bed down flat in the third bedroom, so a no-no for now. Third property, the agent was late, it was snowing, really really cold, I spoke to the office and told them not to bother. I'm sure the owner was in the property while I was waiting outside, but not responding to my knocking. Didn't have double glazing, and I could really only think about temperature that day, so it's a right off.

Had lunch somewhere between these viewings at Pizza Express, and got our favourite table looking onto the river. Even in the freezing rain and sleet people were still doing the boat tour, and pausing by our window.

After lunch, Clare had a hair appointment so I amused myself with more shopping and a brief stop in The Brewery Tavern where they also had a beer festival on. No festival punters in site, no-one even manning the temporary bar with the dozen guest ales lined up on, not really a festival vibe at all. Probably not advertised well, it's a nice place, not one you'd associate with real ale so I don't suppose they'd have had much walk up trade apart from me.
Bus home, too cold and wet to consider going back to Chambers really, so we got a Chinese takeaway and stayed in.

Sunday

Free lunch! Round to the in-laws for dinner, very nice. Still not sure what's going on with the sale of their house, everyone seems to be lying to them at every turn. They've officially handed their notice in on the business, and so resigned themselves to not selling it, but still other people in the chain seem to think that it ought to go through as normal. I hope it does, we'll find out now within the month.

Another night in. Clare was meant to be going out with her brother, but it was freezing at wet again and a night in mostly watching TV Lost: meh. Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency: meh. Both a bit weak I thought. Not sure what to think of Lost at the moment, they do seem to be drifting more into the realms of the supernatural, though I guess the writers won't decide until the very end whether they want to go this route or not, and they can easily change things that happened in the past, and "back explain" things. Getting fed up with it, wish they'd not string it out so much. It's sure to fizzle out before we get to a conclusion at this rate, maybe that's the plan.

Today

A bit sad that it's over. We still have most of the day ahead of us, no great plans except for regular Sunday chores like shopping and cleaning, making and eating chilli, and watching some TV, hopefully the aforementioned The Colour Of Magic (that was exclusively on Sky One yesterday).

Back to work tomorrow, still, a short week.

Magic Numbers every bit as good as I predicted

OK my prediction of Morrissey joining them on stage was a complete fabrication, but we did get Bernard Butler appearing with them to perform "Love's a Game", which then medleyed on into "People Get Ready". They did another wacky ending of another of their songs, turning it into Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill". Great gig, really good, having a string section added a dimension I expect (though I've not seen The 'Numbers before, and getting other artists up to join in was cool (The Smoke Fairies, nope me either, apparently they were at Meltdown though). We had to leave during the encore, think they were overrunning. Our seats weren't great, about as far back as you can be, but you get a good view in the Festival Hall anyway. A few pictures up already, I'm just working on a bit of video footage of Bernard on stage, I didn't get a whole song, maybe two minutes though. Still waiting for the full sized memory stick to arrive.

UPDATE: Video up now. It really does focus after 20 seconds or so:

Nice tea in Pizza Express before the show, we did try a few other places on the South Bank but they were all queued out the door. Mitchell and Webb were in there with a big party, all in tuxedos, think they were just on their way to or from the Comedy Awards, where they won.

Got decorators in at the moment, everything's covered in dust but they made good progress on their first day, they've repaired more of the walls and ceiling than were actually caused by the earthquake, and we get a fresh coat on all walls and ceilings.

Work Christmas lunch today, in Canterbury. I'm kind of hoping The Brewery Tavern get my food wrong so I have an excuse to nip out to Wagamama :-)

Fullsome weekender

Fairly action packed weekend for me really, surprise meal for Clare's folks for their ruby wedding on Friday, we went to The Jackdaw. I had exotic mushroom paella, it was a bit dull really but a nice night out anyway. Most other people loved their food I think, though the vege options do tend to be not quite as interesting as they look on the menu, perhaps the menu there is just too big. Lots of Irish people (in our party), singing, we emptied the restaurant I think and probably can't go back there for a while.

Saturday, lunch in Canterbury at Pizza Express, then watched the rugby in the Brewery Tavern, great game and fantastic result. Then back for a wedding reception at Hythe Imperial, where I met Pandora Peroxide, the real one, ex girlfriend of artist Ray Zell and sister of a friend of a friend. No food at the reception, so we went to the kebab shop on the way home, a particular rare occurence that one.

Sunday driving the outlaws to Gatwick, so we stopped in and had another Pizza Express. I quite like Pizza Express.

More rugby last night, bad luck the Scotchland.
Rated 6.88/10 on Folkestone Gerald

Frank Skinner last night

Quite a good gig last night, Frank was funny and rude, and likeable because of his self depracating ways. He did two sets, with an interval, and then came back to do a little song on his banjo too. He's on tour for another two months, so see him if you can.

I always forget what a bad venue the Leas Cliff Hall is, I guess most venues that were built for more sedate times are the same. The rush for the bar at half time was ridiculous, service was so slow we didn't get a drink at all. Every event I go to there's a similar crush at the bar, surely if this was sorted the venue would make more profit? I suggest selling cans of drink that can be dispensed more quickly, turning over more customers in the same amount of time, and Clare suggests lining up a few pints just before the interval so they can be handed out quicker. It's not like there's a lot of choice at the bar, so they can guess what people are going to order.

Also, more drink related annoyance, we got a drink on the way in, and then found out we weren't allowed to take it from the bar to our seats, so had to leave them, that's six whole pounds we won't see again. This rule had been relaxed seemingly by the interval, so for the second half everyone was refreshed except us, bah. This is just about enough to stop me going to a show there again, I'd rather see someone smaller at a proper comedy club like upstairs at Lanterns.

We went to Chambers for the first time in ages, it was very good, Club Buff were djing, proper indie, and it was comfortable and smashing and the beer was good too.

Today I have a night in, alone, hence posting here at this time. Clare has gone to Canterbury with Jenny the sister-in-law on a girls afternoon of shopping with food and drink to follow. I've already had a text updated from my favourite pub, but at least she's not gone to Wagamama without me. We're back in Canterbury tomorrow, on a shopping and lunch mission, probably Pizza Express this time though.

Been programming this afternoon, some work for www.popbitch.com, there is a redesign in the offing and I'm transferring some of the dynamic pages ideas from here to there. See how if you hit some random phrase on this site, you get sent to /some+random+phrase? That redirects to a script, passing in "some random phrase" and builds a page made up of content found in the database of old posts that matches "some random phrase". www.popbitch.com could do with something like that, but they do have a problem that there might be some libellous content among their archive of 500,000 old posts (and that gets purged frequently too) so I've always been a bit reticent about opening it up. Hopefully I'll come up with a system that'll work. One day that site will sell for a billion and then I'll be able to cash in. This time next year Rodney...

Hmm, guessing I didn't win the �88,000,000 euro millions super rollover then:

The special draw took place on Friday 28th September with no winners in the top prize category. The jackpot duly rolled down and was shared by 14 players in the 5+1 category. Each player won �6,989,367 or �9,839,058.

If one of them was you, will you buy me a house in Canterbury please?
Rated 4.36/10 on Folkestone Gerald

Boo

We didn't get in to QI yesterday, it was hugely over subscribed and we didn't turn up early enough. We got close to the front of the queue, but not close enough, bah. We had a smashing pizza express though, and a few drinks in different pubs around Waterloo.
Got another half day today, hoping tonight's meal at Michael Caines', and cheeky cocktails at The Cuban will make up for yesterday's disappointment.

Some shopping

Just went to Bluewater to try and get a telly for the kitchen (but no-one wanted to swap, hoho) and a new coat for Clare. BUT, the telly we had seen online didn't look nearly as good in the flesh, and all the others that did were more than we were thinking of spending, so we came back for a rethink.

Had a lovely lunch in Pizza Express and...

... and that's where I found this half written post this morning, we went out again in a bit of a hurry. We were heading to Dover and there was a big gap between trains. We brought in some tea with us from Carluccio's that was very good indeed too, that would be a great way to cheat if you were making dinner for someone.

Dover was much better than I remembered, most of the pubs were a bit quiet, but one place was so good we've booked in there for dinner next Saturday. It's Blakes, a little cellar bar / restaurant / guest house that Clare found on www.beerintheevening.com. Absolutely recommended, looking forward to going back, they're going to adapt something for me, and Clare's going for a steak after she heard another diner there raving about them.

Rated 4.57/10 on Folkestone Gerald

Belated weekend roundup

Weekend start sort of badly, and then sort of worse, and then actually got going really very well indeed. Train home hit some kind of delay, caused by some kind of delay on another train. That's as much detail as we've come to expect in the non explanations from south eastern, but HEY, thinking about it I shouldn't complain about them too much, in case I ever end up applying to them for a job. I was quite comfortable on the train, got my paper and my book and my episodes of Dexter, but being late home is never good. We were just over the half hour, so that's a refund on the way, so that's nice. BUT, then every silver lining has another cloud, this one came in the form of a torrential downpour on the walk from the station. We had coats and brolly and that (Clare came to meet me) but still walking into the rain I could have done with my waterproof trousers or waders or something.

We couldn't figure out what to have for tea before going to the pub, so we booked dinner at Escondido and decided to make that our night out, a nice bonus fab meal and bottle of wine. Even sitting with wet trousers on (caused by the rain...) didn't spoil this.

Saturday we got up fairly swiftly and headed to Tunbridge Wells for the day. didn't get that much shopping done, but we did have another smashing meal in Pizza Express, and even the hour's journey each way was OK. Being used to commuting helps here, and also knowing we weren't actually going to work, and then also getting the journey for free adds a bit more.

Saturday night we were out for pa-in-law's birthday, in Hythe, at The Red Lion. In theory this should be a GREAT pub, it has two bars, ale, sofas, big tellies, pool table, darts, food, everything. In practice, it's possibly just me, but there's an unsettling air about the place. It's just a little bit "out of town" which gives it the atmosphere of a roadhouse type place. I wasn't exactly expecting to be killed at any moment by vampires, but there's something about it. We played loads of pool and I lost every game. This (combined with generally feeling on the back foot when I am a cab ride or further from home) is probably where my bad feelings came from.

Sunday, we shopped, and then the Mahon clan gathered again, this time just for drinking tea and playing with the kids and the cat, and plotting christmas dinner. This will be GREAT, so long as I'm not forgotten. There is already talk of smearing everything in goose fat for some reason, so I am preparing my own feast. I've already had a trial run of making a nut roast, but half way through the process of putting it in the tin, piping some cranberry jelly into the middle, so it's like a giant pop tart, spewing out scalding jam when it comes out of the oven. I might mix some chillis in there too. Also I'm having vege sausages wrapped in vege bacon on the side, though these might not taste of too much.

I've made myself hungry now, time to sign off for lunch.

Spamalot

Spamalot was quite good, not brilliant, best bit for me was seeing Tim Curry in the lead role. It's all the same story / jokes as the film.

Went to The Three Greyhounds before the show, very good, small but nice old pub style pub. Four real ales on and some kind of "ale idol" setup where you can vote for the next one they get in. Went back to the pub after the show, and really had to walk directly past the stage door of the theatre anyway, we definitely didn't hang around there like teenage Take That fans, but we did somehow end up getting our pictures taken with Tim Curry. Only camera phone no flash grainy quality, but you can tell it's him and us. Will post when we get them off Clare's phone.

Johnny Vegas was there too, sat just behind us, and also curiously loitering at the stage door. We did not have our pictures taken with him.

Pizza Express dinner was also ace, and our hotel at Victoria was nice. Journey into work this morning was nearly as long as from Folkestone, because Victoria was closed and some busses were on strike. Victoria wasn't due to be shut, I heard before leaving the hotel that the Victoria line was shut south of Victoria, and north of Kings Cross, should have been OK for me. I think they closed it all due to overcrowding or something. I got a 73 for the first time in ages, just about resisted the urge to stay on until Stoke Newington.

Free lunch was good here yesterday, chilli and baked potato and salad, UPDATE: today not quite so good for me, some sort of ratatouille.

High speed rail link to open in one year? Really? That does say Folkestone to Ebbsfleet is open already, not sure what that means, there are no scheduled services running there.

Evening excitement

In London tonight, seeing Spamalot, and having tea at Pizza Express, result!

Number one result for "Habitat Radius"

Was just trying to find the furniture we bought at the weekend, and all the top results are me, how strange. It's down to Habitat's website being quite bad, the whole flash interface makes it hard to index, so my pages are coming up top. ANYWAY, here's that dressing table we got off ebay:

Doesn't really look much there, but we're really pleased with it. We got about a third off buying it second hand, this stuff seems to keep it's value. Annoying now, but handy if we need to sell any of it. Next purchase, more \"Bergerac\" range oak furniture from John Lewis, not likely to see much of that come up cheap though unfortunately. Wish I could be a reseller for it, I'm top google result there too.

Spent the day in Tunbridge Wells, and had my second mushroom and truffle pizza in Pizza Express, even nicer this time. Tunbridge Wells was great, lots of individual shops, looking forward to going back there again. We found some more oak called Antix which kind of matches the John Lewis stuff, it's French again, maybe we should go direct to France and look for some furniture...

It's not all been about obsessive hoarding of furnishings this weekend though, we spent the evening crawling round the pubs of Folkestone, starting off with an overdue return to an old friend Chambers. Wouldn't you know it, it was house night again, so we left after a quick comple of pints. They must save their indie nights for the week, when it would be quieter, but it is annoying. Next stop was going to be The British Lion, but we got sidetracked by The Electric Beatles at Mustang's. Ropey sound quality, but good effort in terms of costume and that. After that on to The Ship Inn in the harbour, and a truly terrible singing keyboardist, then to The Mariner and a quite good Irish band, then last orders in The Guildhall and I can't remember what kind of music the duo there were playing for some reason.

Quiet day today.

Sorry if the site is flickering a bit, it's some JQuery javascript I'm trying out, going to do some more fancy dynamics on here soon.

A journey into the unknown...

Went to Ashford yesterday, for a day out, as Clare had the day off and we wanted to go bowling. Man alive, it's rubbish there... I'm kind of glad we hit the very worst high street type parts of the town first, as it meant that Ashford grew on us as the day progressed, but first impressions are not good. The bowling alley is nice and handy for the station at least, and it's like all bowling alleys are, a terrible, terrible, terrible place. Going anywhere in half term can be a bit dodgy, but this wasn't any worse than it would be at any other time I suppose. Bowling alleys are horrible soulless places, crammed with children and arcade machines, but we knew that before we went. If you want to bowl, you have to put up with this, we don't have anything like All Star Lanes down this way. So, on hitting the bowling alley first, we booked a lane for later, and then had three hours to kill...

The town centre is a mess of rubbish mini malls, each one full of rubbish shops. The highlights were a Waterstones and an HMV, but we could have been in any rubbish shopping centre in any town. AND, I say HMV was a highlight, but that's pretty poor really, all overpriced faux-bargain DVD box sets. Food was limited to greasy spoon cafes, and even the Wetherspoon was closed for a few days. We were really about to give up, until we turned into North Street and found a Pizza Express! This is the only feature of Ashford that was an improvement on Folkestone. We sat there for a couple of hours (service was a bit slow and they messed up one pizza), and had a really nice lunch, the Trifolata pizza is QUITE GOOD

Trifolata NEW
A feast of five mushrooms: porcini, portobello, shitake, oyster and closed cup, with smoked mozzarella, fresh rosemary and garlic with a drizzle of luxurious white truffle oil

Mostly teh closed cup and portobello mushrooms obviously, lesser amounts of the more unusual numbers, and I'm not sure I could really taste the truffle oil over the tomatoes. Also the big sprigs of rosemary are a bit wasted, would be better to sprinkle just the little tender leaves on it. It was nice though, and I will order it again. Yes, that's the pizza they messed up first time round, just for future refernce "no cheese" means "no cheese, not even the mozzarella", thanks.
After this we were in a happy enough mood to put up with anything Ashford could throw at us. We tried a couple of pubs, but they looked a bit ropey, so ended up at the Smith and Jones, which I think is new, and that was good too. Like a nicer Wetherspoons, probably a horrible cattle market in the evenings, but nice and comfortable on an afternoon when everyone else was at work.
Bowling was good, one game each, we need more practice before we head off for our commuters Christmas bowling day though.
Yesterday also, House had arrived, so we watched a couple of episodes when we got home. Bit grim and upsetting actually, but a great series.
I'm nearly ready to give up on Lost, series three episode three was a bit rubbish. I can't believe they're sticking to their original plot at all, it still feels like they're making it up as they go along.

Maidstone: GOOD

We went to Maidstone, and it was good. Fifty minute journey on the train to get there, with a change at Ashford, but worth going to. We had lunch in Pizza Express opposite Hazlitt Theatre, though there's quite a lot of other choice. Would be nice to go there drinking, if it wasn't for the long trek home again.

In the end we went drinking in Folkestone, first to the newly refurbished Happy Frenchman (too bright) and the Thistle and Shamrock and then on down to The Ship in the harbour, not the one in Sandgate. Much booze, very nice, sore head today.

Mustered the energy just about to watch the start of series three of Lost, no idea what's going on, though we saw some back story of Jack's and also of The Others...

Early night tonight, possibly, in preparation for an interview in London tomorrow.

What I done on my weekend

Huge weekend then, we really packed quite a lot in. Started off with a Friday off, though still a commute up to London, we had our trips to Admiralty House and Number 10, through Clare's work.

Instead of snoozing on the way up to London I took the opportunity to watch the last couple of episodes of Lost, so I have now completed series two... I'm not absolutely convinced that I didn't drift off and then wake up part way through a completely different show, so much has happened in the last few, I'm not sure what's going on. Might have to watch them again.

Admiralty House was cool, best bit was the board room with it's spectacular carved panelling all round. The admiralty have no actually permanent base in the building any more, it's now used by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. We think Prescott arrived just as we were leaving, we had to clear out of the boardroom for a meeting, and there was a chauffeur driven Jag waiting outside with the engine still running.

Lunch, was pizzas and squirrel - first to Pizza Express for a delightful meal (we need one of these in Folkestone) and then to St James' Park with a bag of nuts to feed the squirrels, then a cheeky pint in a pub that I forget the name of.

The afternoon's tour was the big one, It's all super secure getting into Downing Street itself, there is airport style security to get through the gates at the end, but when you're inside it seems a lot more relaxed. I've no doubt we were being watched constantly though, especially Clare and me, being 50 years younger and considerably less posh than the other people on the tour. We got up to the front door, and it was closed, did they not know we were coming? The policeman on guard outside said I might as well knock the knocker, as how often would I get to do that? So, I did and we were in. A couple of interesting points about the door, from a distance it looks like a traditional front door, but up close it looks a bit too shiney, it must be made of blast proof high technology or something. Also the zero on the number ten is crooked - there's a story (told to us by the house manager) that when the house was built (Downing Street was a regular row of terraced houses once) it was built in a hurry, the first door number was screwed on crookedly, and this tradition has been maintained. It could also be that the number is carefully skewed so that it looks straight when you're looking down the street - not many people get to see the door head on these days. We did, and this was the only place we were allowed to take pictures.

Number 10's an amazing building to go round, interesting enough just to see a building like that never mind the importance of the office and then all the history and artworks and things. The place is full of furniture as owned and used by all prime ministers ever, and they use these priceless pieces as every day furniture - we all got to have a sit in all the chairs and have a feel of all these antiques that would be behind bullet proof glass in any publicly accessible gallery. A feww bits I can remember are; a campaign chest belonging to Wellington that's in the hallway by the front door, (I expect Tony drops his keys there when he comes in), some Chippendale chairs, and a comfy leather number that knew the bum of Winston Churchill on many occasions. We didn't go up to the private appartments on the top but we did go in the cabinet room, receptions, dining rooms, etc, and we could see the garden, with the kids toys still in place. Just the artworks in the place are worth seeing, they have Turners and Gainsboroughs and a Henry Moore among others, all scatterd about the place and within grabbing distance. The history of the place is palpable. We sat in these chairs in this room:

No photos allowed inside unfortunately. Also I was so interested in everything, I forgot to go to the toilet, so didn't get to steal any soap or towels or anything. Everyone's asking how to get on one of these tours, I have no idea really, I think they're open to anyone who applies, but I could be wrong. There is a two year backlog at the moment though I think, they didn't do tours for a couple of years after 9/11. Go for it, it's well recommended.

Saturday we had another splendid meal in Escondido, I love that place. After we had a few beers in The Ship, and sat out in their back garden for a bit. Apparently there are a family of porpoises swimming about just outside, though we saw no sign of them.

Yesterday we went out sailing on the boat used in TV shows like Hornblower and Longitude and things, it was great, I will have pictures tomorrow of these.

Being back at work is rubbish...

Yeah as I say it was before I lived there

Oh no, I sounded like one of those "Folkestone Arts" types... I loved Fresh and Wild, most people do, but I'm just saying that some people (the early adopter bohemian meeja types who lived in Stokey in the early '90s) see all chains as bad, but then again some people who say they see all chains as bad would love something like Fresh and Wild, that other people objected to strongly. I don't want to live in a village right now, the independent hand made toys and rubbish boutiques of Stoke Newington Church Street really got on my tits, but the restaurants and pubs there were fantastic. I would choose Il Bacio over a Pizza Express, and think that The Defoe was a better pub than Chambers. Hmm I've lost my train of thought now and can't remember why I moved here again...

Anyway, la la la not listening to you, Folkestone is Highgate-on-Sea, the West End is mostly like Primrose Hill I think...

Losing M&S (another chain) is bad, it is also just WEIRD, when it seems other big stores are lining up to move in. It could be just the big gap between now and the new shopping centre being open, maybe M&S will come back then?

To sum up, some chains are GOOD for a town, most are very good for a town that's been in the doldrums like this one for so long, Starbucks will be good for this town.

Where starbucks lead, yo below will follow

Hmm, that's another chain, and lots of people don't like them, but I'd rather have a few quality chains like Nandos, Fresh and Wild, Pizza Express and so on, than street after street of independent pound shops.

Is there such a thing as English Sushi? Maybe Folkestone could be the forerunner in it, being on the sea there ought to be more made of this in the restaurants in the town. I don't eat fish myself so am not sure what's about and what's not, but I know I have been laughed out the door for asking if there is somewhere to get nice fresh fish down by the harbour.

RE: Could well be the guitarist who directed the music then

Hi Guys,

thanks for coming to the gig..hope the jazz didn't put you off! Re. your query..

(Just to clarify, certainly not snarky)

In terms of the jazz thing- not so much a new direction. I've actually been singing jazz for coming on ten years (ooh, just freaked myself out, I'm getting old!)..in various formats. I used to be in a jazz band, as pianist and singer, which someone else fronted years and years ago. I sang some at Uni, usually just sitting in or guesting.

Then I went to Chicago in 2001, which kind of cemented my love of the artform. I got to hear the amazing vocalist Kurt Elling, and his awesome quartet every week. I made an album out there with Kurt's bassist, the awesome Rob Amster, which had some standards, couple of more recent covers (The Police, Stevie Wonder) and two of my tunes on it. Rob wrote some beautiful arrangements for the album, and produced and played on it.

Since I returned from Chi in 2003, I've been doing lots and lots of things!

The act you are referring to (the Zepellin-y thing) is something I still do. I used to sing pop songs before I ever heard any jazz, and basically I'm just a fan of good writing.. If a song floats my boat, I'll sing it. I formed the duo (formerly called Tallow, now called Kid Charlemagne, which is also the name of the jazz duo and my five-piece band) in 2003, and we've been playing pubs, functions, restaurants, you name it, since then.

I play almost as many, if not more jazz gigs now as ever I did (which is cool with me, as it certainly stretches me as a vocalist)..Pizza Expresses, bistros, jazz clubs etc.. I used to do the KC Folk duo at The Chambers with Simon Bridgestock (bassist in the band), but since Chris (Smith, the owner) asked me for a regular jazz night, I've been doing that, with Sam Dunn (guiatrist in the band!- see, its all very cosy). It's not really a directional choice thing (I refuse to fall into one of those handy pigeonholes, which will certainly be my undoing!) or a 'someone else in charge' thing either..Everybody knows, I'm the Wiz, I'm the Wiz (sorry, obscure Seinfeld reference...no need.)

Rather..I guess I 'direct' the gigs (as I usually get them), but it doesn't really feel like that, ever. Whoever I'm playing with has as much say about what goes into our sets as I do (unless I say otherwise, in which case, my word is LAW...Nick Peck- I'm joking!)

The band itself is a forum for whatever we want to play; my originals, jazz tunes, folk tunes, funk tunes, soul tunes...literally whatever we want to do. It usually sounds pretty cool, I guess because its not about the type of music you play, but who is playing it..and how they interact with one another and the audience- what is the connection like? Does everyone seem to be having fun? 'Cause that's the whole point.

Hope that wasn't too ranty; it's just a query I seem to explain a lot (not surprisingly, as I do different music with different people, and that gets bamboozly). If you want to know anything else about me/the duos/the band you could hit my myspace site..

www.myspace.com/ninaclarkandkidcharlemagne

Thanks for your interest,

Nina Clark

Singer/Songwriter etc.

Flipping Big Television

After much deliberation, arguing, stress, and a pizza express to diffuse the tension, we got ourselves a TV. Not exactly the one we went in for, we were talked up very slightly, after comparing them side by side. We did see others that we liked more (a very cool Pioneer), but compensated for price a bit, and ended up with a very nice Hitachi. It was all about what we thought of the picture quality in the demo room in the end, all the technical specs went out of the window (well nearly, see later*) and we hippytastically went with the one that felt best. So, contrast ratio is a bit lower on this one, though not too worried about that as I read on Wikipedia that these figures are not standardised and could be exaggerated beyond the bounds of accuracy anyway. Also we've got a couple of things that I said wasn't going to inlfuence the decision; a built in digital tuner (we don't have an aerial so can't make much use of this) and a motorised stand (we want to wall mount it). This is just about what it'll look like:

Hmm, smaller than I remember... It's being delivered this week and I can't wait! EXCEPT, now we need to rearrange our front room, get some cabling drilled through walls, and get rid of our other TV somewhere. It's a Hitachi too, offering it back to the bro-in-law who generously gave us it to start with, maybe it can be sold.

*Back to whether we strictly followed the technical specs of the TVs or not, we did to some extent. Went to look in House of Fraser at TV's too, their TV department is laid out nicely and give you a good idea, we thought we saw the same Samsung we were considering at a significantly reduced price there. Checking the specs it was an older TV, still "HD ready" but of a much lower resolution. It was so hard to tell though, we would not have guessed that we were seeing basically half as many pixels on the screen, the picture looked great. So, we didn't completely discount the theory in favour of just a nice picture. The moral of this story is, if you don't have friends who will ask you technical questions about your telly, you can get a great bargain. If you spend your whole day online with the world of information at your fingertips, you might might be more tempted to dig deep.

Stayed in last night, can't afford to go out ever again.

Unfortunately not, the nearest one's probably Canterbury

Folkestone is progressing though, we've got a Subway now, opening this week. Hmm, is this a good thing? Anyway, our pizza express dinner was in London. Are you an ex resident then? Check out Folkestone Gerald for a list of what we've got...
Rated 4.57/10 on Folkestone Gerald

RE: More furniture

They haven't gone and got a Pizza Express in old folky have they??

More furniture

There's another bit of the furniture we've been buying gone up on ebay:

i14.ebayimg.com/03/i/05/68/62/67_1_b.JPG

Not sure why I didn't get an email alert about that, not sure if I'll bid either. Looks a bit wonky to me, as if it's been knocked about, or not put together as well as I did *cough*.

In other news, I put the technorati link back on the site, hopefully it'll not slow things down.

Brane is a bit thick today, had a bottle of wine with a lovely Pizza Express dinner.

Les Foos

Went to the Astoria last night to see The Foo Fighters, and it was ace. Right until the last minute I thought I wasn't going, then got a phone call from someone at work to say he wasn't going and I could have his tickets, what a great chap! He's the Kaiser Chiefs manager, so in return I will be encouraging everyone to buy the I Predict A Riot single which was out this week, let's send it to number one and buy him a speedboat. It's from the album Employment. Anyway, see my Foo Fighters review, save me repeating myself too much.

We had dinner at Pizza Express with Emma, and some drinks in the Princess Louise. Our hotel (oh yes, we made a night of it, no four hour commute and 6am start after a gig like this) was the Waverley on Southampton Row. Not bad at all, not the most glamorous room but a handy location, cheap enough, all the facilities and a cooked breakfast buffet. Would be nice to do this more often, but 70 quid is 70 quid...

What on earth was google talk doing on the front page of the Standard yesterday? Is there something I've missed? Does it offer more than MSN or Skype do already?

Weekend review

I did a massive amount of driving at the weekend, borrowed a car and went to Bluewater. We hit some insane rain on the M20 and had to pull over until we could see again. It feels like the sort of place I ought to go "oh no, we had to go to Bluewater" but I love it there. Even though it's the school holidays now, and obviously it was a Saturday, it didn't seem overly busy.

I like going to Bluewater when I've got money in my pocket, and nothing in particular to buy. Only problem this time was I had presents to buy for people, and no money in my pocket, I'd forgotten my bank card... Clare to the rescue! Having to ask her to buy things for me saved a few quid I think, as we looked at some furniture and some flipping big televisions...

We had Pizza Express and fruit smoothies instead of wines and beers as normal, might have to rethink this driving lark. The only thing that's missing there really is booze, there are no off licenses, I wonder if that's deliberate? We did some a chap in a hooded top, which I thought had been outlawed in the area, but he didn't try to mug us. There is a novelty liquer seller, but I was after something specific. Still had the car the next day and did our groceries at Waitrose, and managed to get everything in there.

Might go again next weekend and even buy something! We'll see.

Went to a nice new restaurant in the evening, Casa de Tapas in Sandgate, a treat from Clare's brother and his girlfriend for our birthdays. Drank too much Cava, oops. Then for last orders at the Sandgate Hotel. Both were fab and I'm looking forward to returning.

Shopped and cleaned and generally got things out of the way on Sunday, the flat is clean and we are feeling on top of things.

Commute in today was pretty smooth, I fell into a deep sleep, thought I was still in bed and didn't want to wake again. I hope I didn't shout out. The second day of walking between Cannon Street and work went well too, it's a nice little walk.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Well, great weekend in London with all the family, though it got off to a bit of a damp start for me... Left work at 5, picked up some beers and headed to our hotel to meet Clare, and got caught in the FIERCEST downpour ever! Frantically tried to dry my jeans with a hairdryer and then headed out to The Dove, in Hackney to meet some old chums from Fortune City. Great to see the chums, albeit far too briefly. The Dove is a great pub, not that good a walk from Bethnel Green tube, but good when you get there... they have an enormous number of Belgian beers, including a few on draught, and more regular real ales too - I sampled a few, my fave was the Powerstation Porter. Then back into town to meet Clare again and old flatmate Emma for a drink at the Pint Pot and then for a curry down Charlotte Street. It's changed a lot down there, most of the curry houses are gone now. Had some green banana main, that was a bit bland really, shame.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was good, our seats were great (if a bit short on legroom), everyone enjoyed it I think. Lunch in Pizza Express was top too, and oddly it felt like we had just enough food - maybe my stomach has shrunk? I usually feel their pizzas are not quite big enough.

Saturday night we stayed in and watched telly and played games. We should have listened to the reviews, LOTR Risk is a bit rubbish. Yesterday we cleaned and shopped and played some pool and did our best to relax, with a quick visit on the side to Clare's folks, it's her mum's birthday.

Want some cheap PC games and stuff? Why not visit Best man Andy's Ebay shop...

Pizza Express

Just a quick reviewette of our experience in Pizza Express, Canterbury, this Saturday. Our meal was a bit rubbish!

It was busy, it was a Saturday lunchtime and it is Canterbury, but we waited for nearly an hour to be served, and then the pizza wasn't up to normal Pizza Express standards, what a shame!
Rated 4.57/10 on Folkestone Gerald

Oh my, back at last

cron job to resize all my pictures seems to have caused havoc, so www.uksolutions.co.uk closed my account! All back now...

Very productive weekend I think, sorted out a little overpayment on my mortgage, which I've been meaning to do for a while. Apparently paying a pound extra a month will knock about 15 years off the repayment term! Well, it's definitely something like that. Got round to returning the Children of the Tsunami tickets for the gig that was cancelled, and also changed my address with my bank. Paid off the scaffolder, and as the remote control all works on the new fire, I paid www.countrywarmth.com off too. AND, a job I'd been slightly fearing for a while, The Suits For The Wedding... I think I have found something, so all that's left now is to confirm and then get everyone to phone their measurements in... Best Man, what was it you said about pink?

Disappointing weekend food wise really, had a crap pizza in Pizza Express in Canterbury (but I did drive there, so quite an achievement in itself), and then another crap meal in Folkestone!

Saw our new table, it's nice. But it's heavy. Who will help me carry it up the stairs?

Found another property site today, much like the others I looked at a few weeks ago www.ourproperty.co.uk features Land Registry house prices. Unlike them, it's free! So I will check out house prices down our street. Maybe.

More pictures, of snow and things, when I get in tonight. Saw a lot of snow, but leaving Folkestone this morning was a real bind, just because it was so sunny and spring like there...

http://www.clarkeology.com/img/thumb/img_2005_03_05_Folkestone_IMG_1822.JPG Clare in Hawkinge http://www.clarkeology.com/img/thumb/img_2005_03_05_Folkestone_IMG_1823.JPG Paul in Hawkinge

Where'd the site go?

Something up at the hosting centre has meant this has been unavailable, and me with so much news! The new computer arrived, so just plugging that in and playing now, all seems to have come up quite neatly. It's trying to sync with Outlook, which I don't currently use, but I'm sure it'll all be fine. Used it in the office and it asked me if I wanted to dial up using someone else's mobile phone, which is nice. Also used it on the tube, but didn't get any rogue messages appearing.

Also got to install the new wireless router so I can wonder round the house with this kit, I am dreading unplugging the old (wired) router and then not being able to get back online again, so will tread carefully...

Here's a nice how-to from Engadget: how to make your IPOD into a universal remote... will the IPOD start being disused now I have the iPaq? No, I think I can use the two of them together; limited display on the IPOD, and limited storage on the iPaq, so need to buddy them up.

Office move's been put back a week now.

Great weekend just gone, very hot though, excellent family barbecue and did lots of visiting to say thanks for recent birthday and engagement presents. Also ate and drank at the Oast and Squire, Pizza Express, and Slackwater Jacques, might report back more later. Now I'm off to MESS THINGS UP!

PS watched Bend It Like Beckham last night. Nice to watch a British film, shame it's rubbish.

Timothy's Wine Bar

Folkestone is in danger of becoming a culinary wasteland. Sure, it has the usual collection of OKish Chinese, Indian and Pasta / Pizza joints. But, with the exception of the cosy Kapetan Michales, you have to go to Sandgate or Hythe to get a half-decent meal.

Which is why we were looking forward to the opening of the subterranean Timothy's Wine Bar, adjacent to Barclays Bank and across the road from Iceland. We went there on Spanish Night and, while it was a memorable night, it was for all the wrong reasons.

Dragging a vegan along to any restaurant is always asking for trouble. But any self-respecting , semi-competent chef can rustle something up that doesn't appear to have had all elements of flavour, texture and enjoyment extacted from it, and that is verging on edible and tasty. And, anyway, we had sent along an advance party at least a week beforehand to forewarn them that we had a lettuce-botherer coming. The owner seemed delighted at the challenge, especially when we handed over �80 as a deposit.

Anyway, the night itself. Free sangria on arrival - nice touch. Abundant Spanish decorations - ie, flamenco guitars and matador hats - tacky. And, at one point it looked as though one of the staff had put on a comedy "Manuel" moustache, except that it turned out to be real and was very definitely not meant to be ironic.

Then came the food. Starters were a set number of tapas dishes (including chorizo, frittata and a pork dish none of us had eaten before). It was all quite nice, if a little boring. The problems started, however, when we reminded them that we had a vegan with us. It soon became clear that they had not prepared anything for him, but we were re-assured that the chef would rustle something up especially. 5 minutes later arrived a hastily thrown together combo of lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, tomato, lettuce, apple and lettuce. Big warning bells could be heard tolling ominously in the distance.

Now, bearing in mind that this had been billed as a Spanish culinary night and was being charged at �25 a head, what happened next borders on the ridiculously inept and misjudged. Main courses, we were told, were Paella and Beef. What arrived was in fact, stringy, bony, dried out chicken that looked and tasted like it had been mixed with pre-ccoked rice and peas. Where was the seafood, the saffron, anything that is normally associated with Paella ? As for the beef. I really cannot do this dish justice. Imagine school dinner beef. Washed-out slabs of grey, fibrous, meat that had clearly come from a very unhappy cow, slapped on a plate next to boiled sliced carrots and soggy roast potatoes. In fact, I am doing school dinners a dis-service. At least at school, it only cost about �2 and you could usually take your chances with boulder-like Yorkshire Puddings and volcanically hot brown water (gravy) as well.

Not content with this, the owner then subjected our vegan chum to that sort of hectoring, slightly hysterical, questioning that every vegan must have encountered at some point in a restuarant - "So, no cheese then. Or eggs. What abot egg noodles ? No ? What do you eat then ? Do you eat ginger ? Lettuce ? Well, look, what do you want to eat ?". Eventually, having obviously scoured the darkest recesses of the kicthen cupboards for any ingredient that definitely couldn't cause offence, our pal with special needs was served up a delighfully sloppy concoction of soup, cous cous, tinned veg and chilli.

Now, even at this stage, all of this would have been bearable in that stiff upper lip kind of way if it hadn't been for what happened subsequently. When we were asked by the owner in that traditional restuarant game of manners, where the rules say that he has to ask whether we enjoyed our meal and we have to express sheer delight through gritted teeth, we made the cardinal sin of speaking our minds. Of course, upsetting the balance of nature in this way is unforgiveable. Qiute clearly there couldn't have been anything actually worng with the meals or the experience we had recieved at the restuartant thus far. The fault most certainly had to be with our ability to enjoy it. The owner assured us though that he would mention our concerns to the chef.

5 minutes later we are approached at our table by another bloke (who looked a bit pished) whom we took to be another of the proprierters, after we saw him talking to the other owner. This chap then preceded to argue with us for having the temerity to critise the cooking by his... wait for it... wife!!! It seems that this bloke was, in fact just a mate of the owner and it was his wife that had done the cooking that night because she was Spanish. Turns out, that not only had she never cooked in a restuarant before (and had never before cooked the dishes we were eating) the reason the food had been so bland (ie, no seafood in the paella etc) was because English people wouldn't eat it. This is, I presume, the same English people who year after year make Spain their favourite holiday destination and to whom, paella has become almost as close to a national dish as chicken tikka mosalla. And, the same English people who have paid �25 to come to a Spanish culinary evening - which would, I hope you will agree, presuppose at least some familiarity and enjoyment of traditional Spanish food.

Anyway, we left soon after. It wasn't all bad. One of the 2 puddings was OK and drinks were included in the �25 a head - although we didn't know that at the time and are still not sure if that was because we complained about the food.

But there are serious points here. Firstly, this was sloppy management and terrible customer service. �25 a head is not cheap and people expect quality results. Its not on to use paying customers as guinea pigs, espeically when it involves your mate's wife doing the cooking. It you are running a restuarant, do us all a favour and hire a professional chef. Also, if you say you are going to cater for vegans and people make a point of checking this with you first before booking, make the bloody effort on the night ! Vegans might be slightly weird and are best avoided, but they too deserve to eat properly and should not be seen as just a means of off-loading your excess salad ingredients. If you make an effort with vegans and veggies more generally, you'd be surprised how likely proper foodies will want to come back - even the most die-hard meat-eater likes a break now and then. But most of all, you cannot let members of public harangue your customers. It doesn't matter if they are your mates or whether their wives' are doing the cooking, to me, they are still just members of the public. If I have a problem with a restaurant's food or service I will speak to the owner / chef etc. I won't go round to other tables and complain. Similarly, I don't expect other members of the public to discuss my complaints with them, especially with the collusion of the owner.

Maybe things will improve at Timothy's. I probably won't take my chances and find out, and nor will any of the rest of my party, or any of our friends and acquitances whom we talk to. And thats the point really - pissing off 8 people can lose you potential custom of 50 or so. And in a small town like Folkestone, thats not good for business.

But, for anyone reading this - make up your own mind. And if you need any encouragement, it seems that after the success of Spanish night, they are intending to do a School Dinners night...
Rated 6.28/10 on Folkestone Gerald

Male Cast Members of Corrie

Me and Mr H were having our pre-theatre dinner when lo and behold, that Tyrone, Ashley Peacock and the one who used to be in Where the Heart is and is now in Corrie and his daughter boffed Martin, were stood in the entrance hall leaving.

Presumably they had already eaten as they were most jovial. Either that or they make a habit of walking into restaurants, laughing like men possessed and then walking out again.

Following on from this myself and Mr H went and saw our play, The Crucible, with Douglas Henshall. He shouted a lot, but it was very gripping.

Edited by (121423), Sat 28 Feb 16:22 2004