Around Tonbridge in the wintery sunshine....

The sun was shining on my walk through Tonbridge into Mr. Books this morning so I thought I'd take a few snaps to share with you all. I have these mad artistic moments sometimes....

Not a golliwog in sight at Allsorts....

Roll up roll up for the great Bartram bag sale. I actually went in to Allsorts for the first time ever on the day when the shop is about to close. Mr. B was there giving advice on handbags and purses. The vultures were circling as prices had been slashed for the last day from reasonable to absolutely unbelieveable; men and women of all ages jossled with each other lest they missed out on one of the bargain bags or ornamental ceramic bells. There were some trolley suitcases which caught my eye reduced from £65 down to £15; then I had to remind myself that I was only in there for TonbridgeBlog reasearch purposes! I just about managed to resist those leather wallets at £5.99, come to think of it I don't even think that was the final reduction price! I realised in that short space of time why Mr. Bartram has stayed in business all these years, he ain't no fool. He gives the people what they want; it may not be to everyone's tastes but he was certainly doing a roaring trade. And not a golliwog doll in sight!

Another PS on the Apple i-pad launch....

The vast majority of tecno critics have, pardon the pun, slated the Apple i-pad but Stephen Fry (Dear Old Twitterer Stephen) was in gadget heaven at yesterday's launch in San Fran. Read his assessment on the Guardian web site here. It's refreshing and nice to see someone so positive and enthusiastic about a piece of machinery as Mr. Fry clearly is. Is he right though? Only time will give us the answer to that. There's also a link through to the actual launch video of Steve Job's presentation. I've only seen a bit of it but he really is quite some salesman as he stands there in his jeans, casual shirt and track shoes. Who cares about appearance when you can quite acurately say that you've changed the face of the computer market, music industry, mobile phones technology and now, just maybe the book industry....

Gulp! It's another e-book reader. The Apple i-pad....

Is this it for books then? First the Sony e-book reader, then Amazon's Kindle now, the much anticipated, Apple i-pad arrives on the scene; so TonbridgeBlog asks: are books doomed? I sound like Frazer, the Scottish undertaker, from Dad's Army! It's a question which all booksellers must be asking themselves right now. I keep saying to myself that it'll be a slow process and that books, in their paper form, have been around forever and reading them on a plastic screen will never catch on. Then I consider that books have only actually been around even loosely in their present form since Gutenberg first printed his bibles in the mid 15th Century and only properly since the late nineteenth century because, before that, they were hand produced and bound and therefore too expensive for most people. So it is probably inevitable that they'll be replaced before too long, the only big question is how quick will it be. If it's to be as quick as in the case of the music industry, which has seen a revolution since the i-pod stormed onto the market only a few years ago, we really are doomed Capt Manwaring! But let's step back a little and consider the differences in the two markets. Music is very much a dip in and out of kind of experience; we listen to the odd favourite track here and another from this album and that one; we create playlists of musical genres. The average track only takes three or four minutes to listen to and it's a relaxing, interactive experience, we could lay back, close our eyes and the music could be coming from a cd player. Contrast that with trying to read and store books on a device: the quality of the screen becomes vital, you certainly need to be able to see it in various types of light, you can't hold them very comfortably, you don't feel like you're reading a book, you can't easily flip back pages to review the bit of the plot you've obviously just missed. In short, at the moment, they are, pardon the pun, a bit of a novelty. They're, at least for now, nothing more than a glorified small laptop for gadget nerds. Don't get me wrong I can see the attraction of i-pod touches and therefore the i-pad, which seems to be essentially a bigger version of it, I can see that children and adults love to play games and use apps for many different things; I just can't see that reading novels is one of them. Now school text books, thus getting rid of the need for back breaking school bags, is another advantage entirely, that I can see catching on very quickly. Time will tell, but I'm putting my money on there needing to be something more more advanced, cheaper and more reading-experience-friendly before they'll catch on for the vast majoity of book readers....

PS. click on the link below to see what, national treasure, Stephen Fry thinks about the new i-pad. He reckons it's a "game changer!"

Staff Training Post Office style....

Thought I'd call in at Tonbridge main Post Office this morning as I was walking by at around 9-15. When I got outside the doors at the back of Angel Walk I was amazed to see a huge queue snaking around almost onto the Sainsbury's carpark. Surely I was halucinating as the ever reliable PO is always open at 9am on the dot! No, no mistake, as apparently they now close for "Staff Training" between 9am and 9-30 on a Tuesday morning. I'd love to be a fly on the wall at their training meetings as they try to get the staff to sell unsuspecting old couples holiday insurance. Here's the scenario just after the refreshing sales training session:

PO Assistant: Hello and what would you like today?

Old Lady: I just want a couple of first class stamps love.

PO. Assistant: Are you going on holiday this year?

Old Lady: My son's family are taking me to France in June, I'm looking forward to it.

PO. Asst. Have you thought about travel insurance at all?

Old Lady: Ooh no I haven't love, Dereck (her son) always sorts that out for me.

PO. Asst: What about mobile phones?

Old Lady: I can't be bothered with them at my age love. My grand daughter tried to show me how to use them computers but she might as well have been talking Greek!

PO. Asst: (remembering about her trip to France) Come and see us about your Euros before you go.

Old Lady: Me what love?

PO. Asst: (Speaking up) Euros! For your holiday.

Old Lady: I'm not deaf you know love. Like I said Dereck's already sorted out the Franks and everything for the trip but thanks all the same. (Walks away.)

Old Lady: (Comes back in slight panic) Did I pick up me stamps?

PO. Assist: Oh sorry love I forgot, that'll be 82p please....

Goodbye Mr. B....

Shame to see on the High Street more shops due to close down; John "I love me Golliwogs" Bartram's bag shop Allsorts, which I must confess I've never been tempted to go into in the twenty years I've lived in Tonbridge, is to close next week after 742 years trading. What a shame; although, so I understand, this time the recession (now over so they say) has nothing at all to do with it. Aparently Mr. B is shutting up shop on the flimsiest of excuses: he wants to retire, so good luck to him. Remember though John you can always open a stall on the Saturday market, there's sure to be a big demand for those Golly Dolls you must still have in stock!...

Politics, TV interviews and Talent Shows....

Well Politics turned out to be a popular subject in Tonbridge. Maybe we'll give it another go soon as election fever hots up in the coming weeks and months. I'll be tuning in to my usual weekly diet of Question Time, followed by This Week on a Thursday and my favourite radio slot of the week, Prime Minister's Question time or PMQs as it's more commonly referred to to those in the know (not me then!) Any way in the meantime I've had a "television" interview over at Tonbridge School's impressive new sports and media centre. As a forerunner to the forthcoming Tonbridge Has Talent, to be held at the school, what with me being a judge and all, they had me doing Simon Cowell-like poses to camera and Strictly Come Dancing sideways on turns with smile. I'm dreading the results but I'm sure they'll make me reasonbly presentable with their state of the art editing suite. That's quite some facility the school has got there and it's available to anyone to join for use of the amazing swimming pool, gym, hall and tennis courts so long as you've got a spare 500 squid knocking around. I know I have (n't.)...

A little bit of Politics anyone?...

TonbridgeBlog has been up for nearly four years now and never once has it even approached the subject of, I can hardly even say the word, POLITICS. It's been quite deliberate as it's the one subject bound to cause divisions, bad feeling and big arguments. But as there's been a Labour Government now 13 years, as we've seen spin and counter spin, back stabbing and underhand collusion and damned right lies; as there's to be a general election within the next 21 weeks and as it looks like a racing certainty that the Conservatives will get back in power, TonbridgeBlog asks: Is it time to get political???! Anyone care to go first? To pin you colours to the mast? Are you Toff Tories? Loose-moralled Liberals? Less -Lefty Labourites? or perhaps you're something less conventional? Come on let's get the great Tonbridge political debate rolling....

Let's go round again....

All change at the Courier again as Owen Griffiths is replaced and Miriam Taylor has also moved on. I was paid a visit by new Tonbridge reporter, Lucy Clapham, who tells me that she has been working at some newspaper group in High Wycomb and hails from East Sussex, although she has never actually been to Tonbridge before. That's encouraging isn't it! She seemed very nice and I'm sure she'll do the best job she can being stationed in their Longfield Road (North Farm) offices and visiting Tonbridge to cover the odd story and I'm a little flattered that I was one of the first people she visited trying to build up her contacts. But how can the people of our town be best served by this constant musical chairs of their reporters. It was bad enough when they were based in Tonbridge High Street but now they're not surely we need some continuity and at least someone who's already familiar with the town. Perhaps I'm being unfair and we should give Lucy a fair chance, although she'll probably also be off anyway within a year or so, just when she's got to know the town and a few of it's people. If you have any juicy stories to tell her then this is her telephone number at the Courier: 01892 (note that's a Tunbridge Wells code) 686965....

Watching for the first signs of Spring....

They say it's grim up North. Well I have to say that Tonbridge today can only be described as grim, damp, grey and miserable. That said has anyone seen any signs of Spring yet amongst the gloom? Now that most of the snow has disappeared from our gardens are their any snow drops appearing, or crocuses or dafodils? Okay a bit early for dafs. Flowers of any kind will do? Send in your observations and we could start a TonbridgeBlog version of Spring Watch!...

Don't Tonbridge 6th Formers need Freedom too?...

Empowering young people, improving safety, financially assisting families, promoting healthier lifestyles and encouraging use of sustainable transport are some of the very worthy reasons that the Kent Freedom Pass was introduced by Kent County Council a few years ago. The pass is "free" although there is, somewhat paradoxically, a £50 "administration" fee once a year to obtain one. Not too bad when you consider that the average cost per year to get to school from Tonbridge to Tunbridge Wells is around £750, so £50 is a big saving. Where's the problem then you might be thinking. Well apparently all these reasons for having the Freedom Pass don't apply to six formers and college students. Now ask yourself who's more likely to get the biggest benefit from the pass? Who is more likely to drive in to school and clog up the streets around their school? Who's more likely to risk their lives on a motor scooter rather than fork out for expensive fares. The really scandalous thing is that all school children, no matter how old, are charged full fare, on Arriva buses (and probably others) during the morning peak; so their daily fare would be over three pounds. Yes there are weekly and monthly tickets available but with hardly any savings. Now imagine if you'd bought a weekly pass this week during the icy conditions, with schools being closed and buses being badly delayed. You probably wouldn't be best pleased. So come on KCC spend our money on something which would be of real benefit to young people and parents, as well as freeing the roads and residential streets of yet more unnecesary cars and extend the freedom pass to all students. Maybe by increasing the admin fee to £100 if needs be; that would still be a huge saving for all and would allow it to apply to the students it would truely benefit....

It is no joke!...

Ok that's it the joke is over. (I could have said Snow joke again but that's a tired one!) We've had enough. Over a week of snow and we still have disruptions everywhere. Disruptions to most Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells schools, disruptions on the roads, car parks mostly still like ice rinks, pavements mostly still not gritted. I am pleased to say though that the men from Kent Highways have (at long last) done a great job of clearly the High Street and gritting it very thoroughly; I would say too thoroughly but that would start to sound like I was being picky! But just walking from the Castle car parks this morning you could see that they could do a lot more good by just using their noddles a bit. For instance if they can't clear all the paths then why not concentrate efforts on the hilly bits and slopes where people are, rather obviously, more likely to slip over. I did notice yesterday while driving for the first time since last Tuesday that the pavements on Deakin Leas, which is one of the steepest hills in Tonbridge, had a small army of men out gritting the pavements. Was it because they are using their logic and prioritising the hills or was it that the road has a school on it and they have been told to make it safe for school children? Whatever the reason, it was good to see, albeit several days too late. Might it be a good idea to invest in a pavement gritter, which could probably do all the main pavements of the town at lightning speed? Is there a problem in whose responsibility it is to buy the equipment? Is it Tonbridge and Malling Council's or is it Kent County Councils? I would guess the latter which could be part of the problem. If KCC can afford to squander money on dodgy Icelandic investments then surely they can invest in a few mini gritters to stop old folks from slipping over and potential breaking limbs. That way we can all enjoy the snow in future years without being housebound....

My Kent life....

A nice chappie from Kent Life magazine has just interviewed me for an article in their March issue. He asked me loads of questions about the town, my book shop, TonbridgeBlog and my family; some of them were actually quite searching. They're even sending one of their snappers round to take pics of me outside Mr. Books. I hope I didn't say anything too controversial, surely not! Not sure when the mag is published but I don't think it's a freebie so you may have to buy a copy. I'm sure it'll make a rivotting read!...

More on schools closures....

Maybe schools of Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells area should announce their closures on Twitter by having an official feed from their own web sites. This might avoid the crashing of their own sites under the sudden strain of sudden over-use. A useful additional source of information which is immediate, widely available and trusted I would have thought. Remember where you heard it first!...

Make a decision for tomorrow today....

This from Judd School web site today which highlights the problems which Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells students and their parents have been facing this week. The answer, as TonbridgeBlog said in a post yesterday, is to call it the night before based on weather forecasts and the best information possible at the time. No one can blame a Head Teacher for that, but they can blame them for confusion and lack of information. Whether or not global warming, somewhat paradoxically, is to blame for the big freezes we've been experiencing this year and last, is a separate issue for the scientists to debate, but this is one problem which can be put right. Frankly, having read the message from Judd which is copied below, I'm still confused:

"School Closed Thursday 7 Jan 2010

We are closed today, owing to the site being very icy, students should not attend.

Sincere Apologies
As you may well have gathered we had considerable difficulties with our website and also with Radio Kent this morning and we were not able to communicate the closure effectively to parents and students. To all those students, staff and parents who were unnecessarily inconvenienced by this I can only offer sincere apologies. The decision was taken at 7am this morning, but the traffic to our website was so heavy that we could not access it for editing until after 8am. The telephone number we have to use for Radio Kent was engaged for 50 minutes and they did not update until after 8am. Clearly this is not satisfactory.

Advance Notice for Friday 8 January 2010

We have to maintain a position of the school being open unless otherwise informed; however I would ask that students do not set out to school on Friday morning unless the school is confirmed as being open. We cannot close the school without an inspection on the ground, which generally needs to be made on the day, not the day before. We will endeavour to make the decision even earlier tomorrow (if not today) and communicate it through our website, BBC Radio Kent and also kmfm. Thank you for your patience."

New Post Office Opening Hours: er when we feel like it....

They did it to me again again. Most of the shops down Tonbridge High Street managed to stay open till after 5pm but not our dear old Post Office in Angel Walk. Don't worry though, it's only the main branch in the town and one which small businesses, like mine, rely on to be open. I managed to keep my little enterprise open longer than the 4pm which the sign on the PO window said they'd closed at so why can't they? Come off it if you are going to close all the sub PO's down then you have a civic duty to keep the main one open till proper closing time. I should have phoned first to check whether they were open, I hear you all muttering to yourselves. Tried that and got a ridiculously long recorded message asking me to press buttons and asking me did I want to talk about travel insurance products etc so I thought I'd chance it. All this meant that I had to struggle home in the blizzard up Quarry Hill with a great big bag full of parcels (get the violins out) and then back down the hill with them again this morning. Sort it out will you it really is pathetic. Royal Mail? I'm not sure that our Queen would want to be associated with an organsation which shows such lack of commitment....

Are standards slipping at John Adams?...

Oh Dear, it seems that John Adams, or should I say My Back Pages, has had the dreaded Trading Standards officers round beating on their door. That is if TonbridgeBlog is to believe a recent comment from Alisteir Crowley (which by the way is a sinister name borrowed from an old writer who specialised in weirdly dark, supernatural tales) on this blog (scroll down to recent posting) I can only imagine that it must be true otherwise how would the commenter have any information about this matter. From my own point of view they don't effect my trade very much at all, at least not when they only sold new books; although now they seem to be selling off old stock. Obviously, with them being in a prime location, next to the Post Office and car parks, they'll always have the upper hand over Mr. Books in terms of what we retailers like to refer to as footfall. It's true though that when they have a, so called, "closing down sale," when they aren't actually closing down, it does effect my trade noticeably (although not cripplingly) I'm all for fair competition, monopolies just lead to laziness which in the long run is crap for the consumer and ultimately bad for the business. If trading standards have been on to them about overuse of closing down sales then fair enough I'd say. I'd actually quite like to see them be able to stay open, which would indicate that there is still money to be made from new books and that WH. Smiths, Asda and Amazon can't have it all their own way. Trade fairly or close down would seem to be fair comment....
PS. As a footnote to that, and I'm not being bitchy (well maybe a little) I happen to know that John Adams himself insisted after the last "closing down sale" that My Back Pages take down his name from over the shop, which had been there for over 30 years, because he no longer wanted to be associated with the business in any way. I wonder why?!

Beales half hearted sale....

I wandered into Beales in Tonbridge this morning which, in itself, is unusual, and came out feeling empty and disappointed. The SALE 50% off sign was emblazoned across the front and back of the store but I'm afraid it was the usual con trick to get you in the store. If you get your magnifying glass out and read the sale sign again there's the microscopic words "Up to" over the 50% off bit! When you actually get into the store, and I think this morning I was the only customer in the whole store (down to the weather presumably) there's precious little at half price. In fact most of the things I was remotely interested in were still at full price or with 10 to 20% off at best. Contrast that with Bluewater shops, (only twenty five minutes away and free parking) which I visited the other day, and they are, from what I could see, genuinely trying to shift some mechandise with 30 to 50% discount seemingly being the norm. In fact I'm currently wearing a very fetching Ted Baker lambswool and cashmere half zip jumper which I never would have paid 90 quid for but, at half price, was tempted enough to part with my hard earned cash. The problem with Beales sale, from what I could see this morning, is that it isn't half price, instead it's half hearted.....

Let it snow, let it snow, oh no not again!...

Well here we go again with the snow. I must admit that I really enjoyed the novelty of it just before Christmas, playing in it with my kids, sledging down Lambs Bank, throwing snowballs, walking everywhere, just because I could. But now it really is snow joke as our inability to cope is highlighted once more. The roads are moving but dangerous, the side roads, once again, remain treacherous; fine if you happen to live on a main road but most of us don't! Now the schools are at it again. Do we open, don't we open? Causing uncertainty all round. As the meercat says, it's simple: either call it the night before based on the weather forecast and if it turns out to be wrong then at least your decision was based on good information. Or else just be open with a skeleton staff for any students who live locally and can walk or others who are able to make it in. It's always the uncertainty that causes the problems. And for Pete's sake put the information on your web site. These days it's the easiest and most logical place for anyone to look; radio announcements are ok for those ludites who still haven't got the internet but you have to listen for ages before you hear about your particular school or college; school phone lines are useless since they are totally jammed when there's even a hint of a snow drop. Today it seems that most schools in Tonbridge are open and those in Tunbridge Wells are closed. Have the Head Teacher's overlooked the fact that more than half of their students, in some cases, come from outside the town anyway? I'm sure we'll be back to normal soon enough so enjoy the snow everyone and have a very happy New Year...