House hunt

Two houses today in Canterbury, different parts of town, but with things in common. For starters, both too expensive really at 250k each. If the market really is tumbling we might be able to make a cheeky offer on just about anything we see now though I suppose. Also, they were both currently let, and we'd be seeing them with the tenants in situ. Also, both sets of tenants were entirely unprepared for our visits; the first were hastily tidying up, the place was a proper studenty sprawl with bottles and things scattered everywhere, and also what appeared to be a rolled up ten dollar bill left on a mirror, probably some sort of crazy art installation. It was a nice interesting characterful house in a nice old part of town, three big bedrooms, two cellar rooms and two knocked through reception rooms with just the raw brickwork of the chimney left standing in the middle of the property. It needed decorating, but the thing that makes it no good for us is the kitchen, which was too small. If it wasn't at the top of our budget we could have thought about rearranging things, maybe moving the kitchen or extending a bit, but we'd have no money left over for that.



Property two within the city walls is in the ideal location for us, right by The Dolphin. The tenants this time were even less prepared for our visit, they didn't want to let the agent in, they heard nothing from their landlord. We offered to come back next week but in the end they were unhappy but convinced, and the viewing continued. Surprisingly large three bedroom property, all of the downstairs was one big open plan space including the kitchen. I liked this, but it might need some thought. What would it be like living in a house where you can't close the kitchen off from the living room? At a squeeze we might even fit the pool table in this one, if we lived all around it. No garden, and being where it is no parking, but it's on a quiet street so stopping outside for deliveries and removals wouldn't be a problem. There are residents parking spaces right next door, but we know from previous enquiries that there's a waiting list for a permit. There is a small patio out the back, with the river adjacent. It's very shallow at this point, not even really deep enough for the ducks and moorhens to swim in, and is not quite as lovely as it sounds, but I liked it. Clare is less convinced, and at this credit crunching stage in the national economy I don't think we're going to be taking any risks on a place we don't absolutely love. I wouldn't mind seeing this one again though.



Some quick stats, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of todays properties were being offloaded by professional landlords. Possibly in a hurry. If that doesn't tell you the property market is plummetting I don't know what will.

Lunch was at Boho, my first time of eating there and it was lovely, I recommend it. Tea was at Escondido for the first time in ages. Nice, but as with the last several visits they got my order wrong. They recovered quickly, so unfortunately we had no reason to demand a discount. I think that place is a bit expensive now really, but it was full again, I guess there is very little competition in the area. As it was Jen's birthday, we went on for drinks in The Sandgate Hotel for a change, nice but didn't feel all that welcoming. We made our excuses and left before closing time, but the party continued back at Dean's house until 4am apparently.

Nice day today, got our shopping out of the way early so are having a lazy afternoon. Midsomer Murders and chilli later, GREAT!

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Gig guide from this week in 1981!

so it wasn't all big name indie bands playing the Metronome every night as I've been led to believe... here's a fascinating republication of gig listings from 1981, from the good people at www.kentgigs.com. Don't forget my Folkestone gig guide though.

We showed in our mailout on Tuesday that we have been supplying the press and music fans with listings for 25 years. It has raised a little interest so we have produced below the gig guide for this week, 25 years ago. Might bring back some memories for some and a chance to air some idle thoughts whilst typing.

Our first Gig Guide actually hit the press on 25th April 1981 in one Folkestone newspaper along with a write up for a band and a photo which was the deal we obtained. This newspaper was the only one who had a gig guide with more than just a couple of lines of information. If hadn't been for the national music press of the time i.e. NME, Sounds and Melody Maker we could have been the inventors of the Gig Guide. We also flyposted throughout the local area in the once many music shops, corner shops and record stores.

There were no computers, email or internet, affordable photocopying or home printers, just handwriting and relying on the local friendly printer who created our masterpieces by a screenprinting process. The newspapers were created by hand-set lead type in wooden blocks. When you went to the local press it was like a factory with clattering typewriters, smoke from the molten lead and guys with dirty hands.

GIG GUIDE A WEEKLY GUIDE TO SOUTH KENT MUSIC VENUES published in 1981

WEDNESDAY 4th NOVEMBER 1981

SPRING FIELD HOTEL (Folkestone) - JUNCTION CITY BLUES BAND

LISMORE HOTEL (Folkestone) - CARLOS & HIS FLAMENCO GUITAR

SOUNDHOUSE (Hawkinge) - STEVES STAG NIGHT - Strippers and Comedians

THE DOVER STAGE (Dover) - Country & Western Night with THE RUSTLERS

RED LION INN (St Margarets) - BREAKAWAYS

THE CASTLE (Ashford) ­TBC


THURSDAY 5th NOVEMBER 1981

SPRINGFIELD HOTEL (Folkestone) - RONDO

SPITFIRE LEISUREDROME (Hawkinge) - BONFIRE PARTY - B.B.Q. and DISCO

LOUIS ARMSTRONG (Dover) - INVICTA JAZZ BAND

THE ASH TREE (Gillingham) - BREAKAWAYS

FRIDAY 6th NOVEMBER 1981

SPRINGFIELD HOTEL (Folkestone) - THE PETE STACEY JAZZ BAND and FRENDS

ROYAL NORFOLK HOTEL (Sandgate) - DENIGH

LISMORE HOTEL (Folkestone) - SILHOUETI'E DISCO

SOUNDHOUSE (Hawkinge) - DISCO 8 - 1.00 am

NEPTUNE MOTEL (Dymchurch) - BREAKAWAYS and FIFTH QUARTER DISCO

LOUIS ARMSTRONG (Dover) - ENRY

RED LION INN (St Margarets) - CITY BLUES BAND

CANTERBURY TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Canterbury) - THIN MEN + SUPPORT

THE CASTLE (Ashford) - J.C.B.



SATURDAY 7th ,NOVEMBER 1981

ROYAL NORFOLK HOTEL (Sandgate) - ENGLISH ROGUES

SOUNDHOUSE (Hawkinge) - DISCO 8 - 1.00 am

SPITFIRE LEISUREDROME (Hawkinge) - DISCO with T.R. SOUNDS

NEPTUNE MOTEL (Dymchurch) - FIFTH QUARTER DISCO

LOUIS ARMSTBONG (Dover) - SEVEN ACES JAZZ BAND - Trad. Jazz
RED LION INN (St Margarets) - ENRY

HIGH & DRY (Waldershare) - LIVE MUSIC - Country & Western­ - Guest Artiste

ASHFORD BREAKERS KEMPTON MANOR (Hothfield) - BREAKAWAYS

THE CASTLE (Ashford) - SANDY BEACH & THE DECKCHAIRS

SUNDAY 8th NOVEMBER 1981

Lunchtime - SPRINGFIELD HOTEL (Folkestone) - TRANSATLANTIC BLUES BAND
Evening - SPRINGFIELD HOTEL (Folkestone) - FOLK CLUB - Everyone Welcome

THE GOLDEN ARROW ( Cheri ton) - STAIRES

LISMORE HOTEL (Folkestone) - CARLOS AND HIS FLAMENCO GUITAR

BYBROOK TAVERN (Ashford) THE BYBROOK TAVERNERS - Trad. Jazz

THE COLT (Ashford) - HIS & HERS - Country Duo

MONDAY 9th NOVEMBER 1981
SPRINGFIELD HOTEL (Folkestone) - VERNON WOODWARD

TUESDAY 10th NOVEMBER 1981

THE HIGH AND DRY (Waldershare) - KEEN COUNTRY

2006 :: Comment / reply

What was I going to say?

Was busy when I came in this morning so I have forgotten the things I had lined up for today's "entry". Perhaps it was a gripe about the quality of signal from our new sky freesat box - it was far worse than the signal we're getting via the inbuilt freeview box and the bent coathanger aerial, which is not a good thing at all. Had a bit of a fiddle with the settings, made the sky box put out a 16:9 picture etc and things are good now, but I was worried for a while. Going to check out some new leads too, see if I can make things even better.

THAT'S IT, got an "example timetable" given to us at the train station this morning, regarding the high speed rail link that's lined up for Folkestone - London... It's a bit trainspottery but have a look at this and compare it to the one hour forty journey we're doing right now:

Dover Priory 7.48
Folkestone Central 8.00
Folkestone West Parkway 8.03
Sandling 8.09
Ashford International 8.21
Ebbsfleet 8.42
Stratford 8.50
London St Pancras 8.57

57 minutes for us into the nearest mainline station to my office, that'll be nice. Not that this timetable is guaranteed, nor that I'm sure to be working in the same place when this goes live in 3 years or whenever... Poor old Westenhanger, they will miss out on the new service, but to be honest they're not at all far from Sandling, I'd have missed them off the service too. Serving both Folkestone Central and Folkestone West is an odd one too, surely they ought to upgrade one of the stations and close the other, maybe running another bus between them. Exciting times anyway, move to Folkestone now!

Also more things, I got a GENUINE email from Ebay, they want me to be a special friend of theirs as I am sending quite a lot of business there way, AND The BBC want me to write a piece about Folkestone for www.bbc.co.uk/kent. Might do something to replace their beach page I got pulled the other day, or maybe something about local gig history; the guy who put Radiohead on at The Penny Theatre has been in touch - maybe I can start campaigning for a blue plaque?

I am getting an email attachment like this every time a car goes past my house, as I left my camera pointed out the window with motion detect on, it's a 5 second windows media video file... my inbox is filling up!

Very busy at work right now with things, that's good, everyone seems to be asking my opinion and including me in things right now. Hope it's not the preliminary stages of hoofing me out...

2006 :: Comment / reply