Apple shop for Tonbridge?....

Being a bookseller I should be anti i-pads and i-phones shouldn't I? They are, after all, likely to help cause the long and painful slow death of the printed book aren't they? So why did I find myself in the i-store (or should that be i-bore?!) shop in Tunbridge Wells yesterday eyeing up the sexy looking pieces of kit. (Why does Tun Wells get all the good shops?!) I spent a good twenty minutes or so in there fiddling around with touch screens, i-stores, i-pod touches, wireless keyboards and mice, looking at the compatible Bose speakers with their i-docks and a multitude of cases and other accessories for that highly necessary electronic device. It's hard to be cynical because the truth is that Apple have just taken the world by storm with these gadgets and, as if I needed convincing of that, as I stood fiddling with an i-touch, whilst standing at the counter three i-pads were sold. Now, at an average £499 a throw, that's a very lucrative twenty minutes in anyone's book and at least as much as Mr. Books takes on the average Tuesday morning! Personally I think I'll wait for the new i-pod touch rumoured to be launching soon with extra bells and whistles; far more portable than an i-pad although a little fiddly if you've got large hands. Is Tonbridge ready for an apple shop I wonder?...

Let the bells ring out....

Just had a chirpy lady in my book shop a few minutes ago who was said she was feeling happy and excited about the fact that she was on her way to go bell ringing at the nearby parish church for a wedding. How lovely I thought, what a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Even nicer I can now hear those bells ringing out across the whole of Tonbridge....

Tonbridge Civic Society new programme out now....

The Tonbridge Civic Society ain't such a bad thing you know. I've been actively involved with them for around six years now both just as a member and, for three years, as a committee member and I can only see good in their heart. This sounds a bit corny in a way but sometimes it's easy to be cynical about some society's and charitable organisations. The philosophical question being: does anyone do altruistic things with no gain for themselves even it it just makes them feel good? Sadly most of the time not but I genuinely believe that the Civic Society (at least ours in Tonbridge) is run and attended by residents who care very deeply about the town in which they live. Their aims are pretty simple really: "...to care for the history character and beauty of Tonbridge and it's surroundings.... preservation, development and improvement (for) general public interest.... high standards of architecture and town planning in the Tonbridge area." to quote the society's latest membership card. Easily said but not so easy in practice. In fact, in my experience they need lots of understanding of the detail, particularly of planning applications, and more than a good deal of patience. Don't forget that, since most of the society's members are made up of people past retirement age, for the most part they are fighting Tonbridge's corner for the good of future generations. The A21 dueling project for example is many years away from completion even it gets the go ahead in the current parliament. So the society's heart is very firmly in the right place and all you have to do is go along to one of their meetings at the Angel Centre and listen. The first will be from 7-30pm on Tuesday September 21st with a talk on Bewl Water by Tony Lloyd; there's always a coffee and a chat first and it's very friendly. Try it....

Book Search....

Quite a few customers search high and low to the ends of the earth, often spending years looking for an illusive title, when they should just come to see Mr. Books instead. He'll sort you out in no time at all. Thanks to regular TonbridgeBlog reader, Richard, for the pic....

Abolish school holidays!...

Tonbridge school kids will hate me for saying this but I cannot wait till the end of the holidays. They seem to be a magnet for dreary weather although, obviously, I realise that this can only be an irrational argument. Or is it? Look at the forecast for next week. It's been pretty 'orrible now for most of August, including my two weeks in Cornwall, it was nice before that and now we are set for some glorious weather for the next week or so just when some schools are starting their terms and the others are gearing up to go back. I know we Brits whine and winge about the weather but haven't we got reason to. I defie any Australian to stay here with us winging Pomms for more than a week without beginning to winge themselves! Not only that but I always feel completely thrown out during the school hols. The rest of my family are still in bed when I leave the house, which means I'm normally running late, I feel out of sinc, no one does normal things during August, business doesn't get done, you can never get hold of anybody you need to, bills don't get paid. Abolish school holidays I say or maybe just let them have a couple of weeks in the summer like the rest of us. It'll get kids used to what it's like in the real world! Only joking kids! Or am I?...

Wake Up the Town....

Watching the Lennon Naked excellent drama documentary last night on BBC 4 got me thinking what the hell has happened to Tonbridge's own resident fab five, Bareface. Tonbridge Blog hasn't heard a peep out of them since July, before that they'd spend a month or so shaking the walls and jangling the souls of the neighbourhood as they practiced their blend of post punky, urban inde-rock-with-shades of-the-Beatles White Album in a disused old office building. They're obviously either off gigging at various rock festivals up and down the nation, or else they're taking a break writing their new album on some far flung beach resort. Come back boys it's been very quiet in sleepy old Bank Street!... (By the way you can have the suggestion for the title of your album from me for free. Anyway I nicked it from Paul Weller's excellent latest album Wake up the Nation!)

Best of Tonbridge....

While the dodgy, supposedly, summer weather continues to sweep in from a South-easterly direction over poor Tonbridge newspapers all over the land have very little to report on these traditionally slow, back end of the holidays, news days. In the style of some of these scraping-the-barrell-type stories Tonbridge Blog asks: What are the top five best things about our town? And the top 5 worse things? Best things might be The Park, the river, the castle, the shops (ok not the shops!) Worse things? That's easy: Traffic wardens (especially since they became Civil Enforcement Officers which really gets under the skin!) parking charges, parking restrictions (oh come on there must be something that doesn't involve parking!)

70% chance of precipitation in Tonbridge....

Well I think we may as well all pack away our shorts, vests and T-shirts for another year as it seems that the woeful weather is set to continue. More unsettled and rainy weather for Tonbridge on the way next week and perhaps into the bank holiday weekend. Barbeques are looking very iffy so don't bother shopping for those burgers and chicken wings just yet. How damned depressing can it get? I'll never moan about heatwaves in June ever again probably....

A great holiday read....

A great book to read on holiday was something I was pondering over before my recent trip to Cornwall. Well I did find almost the perfect book as it happens. I wouldn't normally have chosen it but I learnt that Daphne Du Maurier's romantic tale "Frenchman's Creek" was set in the very area that we had planned to start our holiday. Apart from being a great old fashioned story about an eighteenth century posh lady falling in love with a dastardly, but dashing and daring, pirate who was causing havoc around the coves and harbours of the South of Cornwall it provides the reader with wonderful descriptions of the beauty of the Helford river. In fact I did become more than a little obsessed with visiting the places which are described in the book and trying to guess which paths and roads the characters must have travelled along. We went to Gweek, Porthleven, Helford Village, Helford Passage, Constantine and other places mentioned really just because they were mentioned. My family went along with my obsessions for the most part including a six mile trek along a woodland path which takes you right along the Frenchman's Creek itself. Later on we hired a small boat to explore the Helford river and sailed right into the Creek; at high tide we were able to explore pretty much the whole inlet. I imagined, just like the character at the beginning of Du Maurier's book, a beautifully colourful, yet camoflaged, sailing ship, La Mouette, (not pictured) anchored there hidden in the trees, awaiting its next mission, a daring raid of a ship in Fowey Haven further up the coast. Like I said I did get a little carried away but it did make for one of the best holiday reads I've ever had....

The last remnant of Tonbridge's thriving printing industry closes....

The Whitefriars Press was founded in Tonbridge in the 1820's on Medway Wharf Road. It printed Punch for many years and by 1950 was printing around 2 million Penguin paperbacks a year. When I moved to Tonbridge I remember seeing the derelict buildings nesr the lock gates which once housed the great presses and where around 350 Tonbridge folk made their livings. Always sad but, I guess a necessary part of progress. The Whitefriars Social club on Avebury Avenue was the only thing left and at least kept the memory alive for past workers and their families. Now, so I hear, due to ever dwindling members, sadly even that has closed it's doors for the last time and is to become, wait for it, a Chinese restaurant! Soon only records kept in local history books and at the library will keep account of the fact that there was once a thriving printing industry in the town....

Tonbridge breathes sigh of relief!...

I know you've all missed TonbridgeBlog's irreverent observations and rants over the past two weeks or so but, you see, we all need a break from time to time. I've just had mine in a mostly rain-soaked Cornwall (camping as well!) but still thoroughly enjoying it. I am quite knackered though as those tents have very thin walls and sleeping on an airbed can be pretty uncomfortable at times. I must remember next time to take a blindfold so that I don't get awoken by the blinding sun at 5-30 every morning. I did take ear plugs but prefer to be able to hear the noise of owls hooting and cows lowing to lull me off to sleep. Too often though I heared the noise of other people talking, laughing and playing music and of dogs barking. I will miss warming myself around those amazing camp fires and gazing up at the star-filled night skies though I must say. Anyway, as they say, you need a week to get over a good holiday and I'm part way through mine. Thanks for all the comments coming in while I was away I did get the chance to have a read during a stolen half hour I spent on a computer in Falmouth library (so far have resisted the temptation to buy a smart phone but may have to succumb soon.) The picture is of the sun setting over The Lizard but, don't worry, I won't inflict any more holiday snaps on you!...