History in my day

Another bright and breezy morning, just cool enough to stop me walking down town in just a t-shirt, but warm enough not to stop me walking down town at all. I headed the usual route past the courts and the DSS (all the nice scenic points), to what I’m starting to think is my favourite residential part of town, Millfield / Victoria Grove / Copthal Gardens. There’s nothing special about these roads (apologies if you live there), but they do seem to have enormous potential – the houses are huge, lots of them are tired and sad looking, and not all of it's yet been gentrified. Actually as I’ve been thinking more while writing, the further down the road you head, the nicer it gets, Copthal Gardens does seem quite fab. They’re all [em]just[/em] on the not-town side of town, in a ghetto of Folkestone that's separated from all the action by the smash and grab of the "new road"¹. Past all the houses and the first point of interest is the nursery school that looks like a pub... Yes, it was a pub, it was The Bouverie Arms opened in 1855, was run by the wife’s grandparents in the 1960's, and finally closed in 1977. See, dates and everything, now we’re getting on to the history...

Next I’m down onto Grace Hill, look down the road to the left, there’s legendary Folkestone venue Toft's on your left and the Foord viaduct in the distance. This was completed in 1844 and means there was no need for a big ramp to jump trains over Folkestone to the harbour. This section of track is mostly closed now I think, though the Orient Express does come somewhere down this way once a week, so who knows…

I’ve turned back into town now, passing by Wetherspoons (see my restraint), a converted Baptist church, though I notice it now has a real name all of it’s own; The Samuel Peto. Samuel Morton Peto was a Victorian entrepreneur, who built clubs, theatres, railways, and Nelson's Column of all things, not sure of any connection to Folkestone though…

On into the centre of town, after a book, Ottakers can’t help me, though Waterstones has it... This is very impressive, the becolumned town hall built 1860, from this date on the clock tower, it has a real Back to the Future feel to it. The building also housed a police station, with six jail cells, which I understand are used by Waterstones as some kind of national data store.

Three more stops on the way home, a cup of coffee in Cooks, which I'd not previously have bothered with, but they’ve recently put some effort in. It was a regular bakery type shop until recently I'm sure, but since the threat of a Costa moving to town, they've seriously upped their game. It now has a huge lounge area, decorated in modern coffee shop style, with free internet access and bonus terrace style garden. Really very nice indeed, the original customers seem a bit out of place there now. Then two stops of historical note. One is St Eanswthe's church yard, which I mentioned yesterday. There’s been something religious or other on this site since 630, that's far too early in the morning for me. I was not afeared of nutters today, as I saw a friend there, we call him Terry. Finally, out the other side of the church and past this house where Charles Dickens once lived. As everyone points out, Dickens lived in a lot of houses; most towns have seem to have some blue plaque or other relating to him. This one is (now) called "Copperfield’s", and we do get a mention in that book

Peggotty's answer soon arrived, and was, as usual, full of affectionate devotion. She enclosed the half guinea (I was afraid she must have had a world of trouble to get it out of Mr. Barkis's box), and told me that Miss Betsey lived near Dover, but whether at Dover itself, at Hythe, Sandgate, or Folkestone, she could not say.

2006 :: Comment / reply

Pub golf

As part of my round up of the weekend, as I am reminded different bits of it at different times, here is the order of drinking of the pub golf in Exeter on Saturday... we played some real golf first, some pitch and putt anyway, and I thought I did averagely, but came far and away bottom of everyone who played. Very enjoyable (except for recovering the ball from the river) and I think I will go play some in Folkestone... anyway, the holes, the pars, and a little explanation...

We started off with pre-round drink in the club house (The Ram, a student union bar), with a pint of our own choice, and in our own time. I snuck in a pint of Otter, and a double portion of raosted vegetable arrabiata and chips - isn't student union food GRATE? Then onto the course... trousers to be tucked into socks at ALL TIMES, with an Aftershock penalty for just about anything.

1. Queen Victoria, bloody mary, par 1. Easy start, except for the few who didn't like tomatoes. No actual allergic reactions AFAIK, but some decent retching in the toilets. And this the start of the course!

2. The Locamotive, pint of Taunton traditional cider, par 2 and a water hazard. Again, easy, nearly everyone did a birdie here, downing the pint in one. Bit of a slaughtered lamb vibe in this pub, they were wary of us to start with, so we didn't stay long.

3. The Black Horse, bottle of budweiser, par 1. Shouldn't have tried to bolt this one, but everyone else did. Didn't manage it, thought I was going to burst, and felt unwell all through the next hole.

4. The Black Horse again, pint of Guiness (par 1) water hazard. They let me off the Guiness, went for some IPA instead, cheers chaps. More or less down in one... A water hazard means NO TOILET STOP, so we got moving again fairly sharpish after that. STILL feeling very bad, wasn't sure how I'd cope with the rest of the course after this...

5. Hole in the wall, double rum and coke, par 1, no first names. This is where it started going wrong for most other people, the no first names thing caught a lot of people out. One Aftershock for each time you say someone's first name. TWO for mentioning Belle and Sebastian, that's two names, see? BUT, this bar had pool tables, and was great. This (and seeing everyone else get in a mess) perked me up no end, and I was fine for the rest of the day. Maybe there are restorative effects to the rum? It was a large spicey Captain Morgans I think.

6. The Ship, white wine spritzer, par 1. Pint glass, no ice, CHEERS! Nice old style pub, a bit spit and sawdust if I'm remembering it right. There was urban street foot golf on the way to the next boozer I think, and we got a bit too close to some bizarre Lady Penelope style Bentley.

7. The Well House, bottle of tart fuel, par 1, no swearing... don't think I was penalised here either, went for an apple and mango Reef, mmm... tastes like the powdered fruit drink we used to have at school.

8. The Walkabout, pint of bitter, par 1... what a place to have a pint, the only pub we went in with no proper beers! Pretty nasty town centre fun pub, I think some of the party weren't allowed in. There were some big fat cigars too, which I suffered for the next day.

9. Three Fat Fish, Cheeky Vimto, par 1... there was much dancing by this stage, only from me though possibly, it was all a bit northern soul. The best man was in a bit of a bad way and was carried home, but I and the other survivors went on to late night dancing and further drinking at Exeter Uni's Lemon Grove venue hall thing. It was rubbish, not that I've been there before, but the message is You Can Never Go Back.

Anyway, great weekend. Pub golf is recommended, maybe adapt the rules to suit your party (we had no bonusses for a hole in one, every hole was a par one) and knock yourself out.

2005 :: Comment / reply