Poetry, Poetry and more poetry please....

Don't forget that it's National Poetry Day on Thursday October 9th, which unfortunately does not this year coincide neatly with Poetry at the Pub, as it did last year, which is a shame, which takes place on on Thursday October 2nd at the Ivy House pub at the corner of Bordyke and the High Street in Tonbridge, where, I'm told the mentalist landlord is going on hunger strike in protest of the death of the pub trade because of greedy property owners who know nothing about running a boozer; and if you've really not had enough Tonbridge's West Kent Book Fair will take place at Tonbridge School on Sunday October 26th all day and will include Traditional Storytellers and Poetry at the Fair, another open mic session but this time in the amazingly accoustics of Old Big School Hall, which (pause for breath) is at the tail end of Tonbridge Arts week, which this year goes on for a whole month. Now that was a long sentence, which is why poetry is so much better than prose!...

The week so far....

For those of you looking at Alternative Tonbridge blog for the first time a very warm welcome. If you haven't worked out how to click on the right link then you probably won't be reading this anyway. A summary of the week's blogs so far: Tonbridge Juddians Rugby club beat Folkstone by a whapping 124 points to nil; that's a hell of a lot of tries, conversions and penalties. You have to feel sorry for the opposition (not) being on the end of all that pent up anger and frustration the TJ's must have had after such a crap season. It shows how much work has been done in the close season behind the scenes. Susan Adams has thrown in the trowel (geddit) with the annual Tonbridge garden and home show, she has informed the stall holders that she's 'ad it up to 'ere with the spiralling costs and all the red tape. It looks like Tonbridge is about to loose it's "purely local" KMFM radio studio; we may still get the radio shows but will they be the same without Myma, Ness and co. moaning about the traffic down Tonbridge High Street and those inane Just MOT ads for Morley Road Tonbridge?! Oh and apparently there were three people eaten by a tiger because of climate change and we thought that the parking attendants were our biggest problem(oh, that's right, actually that was in Bangladesh) More later....

I have seen the future....

I have seen the future and it is murder! So goes the the Leonard Cohen song and if you've ever been to Future World near the Lizard in Cornwall you'll know what he meant. He's a vision of what it could be like if we let robots take over the planet. Before you know it they'll be doing Gene Kelly and Bob Deniro impressions....

Dog diving....

On my recent holiday in Cornwall I managed to capture this quite amazing new sport of dog diving. This incredible Labrador, called Barney, was diving off the harbour wall at Mullion Cove into the fairly choppy sea. What dogs will do for a rubber ball eh....

Whats on?...

What's on in Tonbridge? Well quite a few things actually. There's Heritage weekend on the 13th and 14th of this month, Tonbridge Castle, Somerhill, the Parish Church and other local buildings will be opening their doors free of charge as part of this. So if you ever fancied going to the top of the Castle and having that superb panoramic view across the town and the surrounding countryside, but where too tight to fork out for the gatehouse tour then now's your chance. The same weekend there's Art on the Railings, hosted by the so-called Platonic Artists Sue Vass and Wendy Asprey, which brings a flavour (ok a pinch) of the Rive Gauch to our fair town. Go down to the river, beneath the Castle and you'll be able to view (perchance to buy) some really quite stunning artwork mostly by artists who actually make a living from it. No disrespect to Tonbridge Art Group and the like, but your stuff is relatively crap and their's is pretty good and thought provoking. Not forgetting Poetry at the Ivy which is this Thursday at the Ivy (funnily enough) 8pm in the main bar. Read out a couple of poems, chill out with a few beers, or wines, have a chat with some fellow poetry fans. You'll everything from hip hop and spoken word, Scrubious Pip-type material to Shakepeare and Shelley. Come along and grab yourself some culture before the new Autumn TV schedule sucks you in to a life of couch potatoery....

Butterflies....

The kids are mostly back at school now, give or take the odd private school whose holidays seem to go on forever, and I still get that nervous feeling myself. I felt nervous for my children last night and I had butterflies this morning as well. It was almost as if I were the one who would be meeting my new teacher, as if I'd be starting my GCSE subjects and be on the long winding road to A levels, perhaps university and a postgrad course; not to mention having to choose a career and meeting a girl/boy of your dreams, marriage, children of their own and all those responsibilities. But then again, the wild parties, the lifelong friends still to meet, the rock concerts, the girlfriends/boyfriends along the way, Olympics 2012? (who knows) the gap year travel, that first job in London, learning to drive, their first flat and home, ah independence....