Russian Roulette....

Tonbridge's Anthony Horowitz fans will remember queuing up outside Mr. Books on a cold  afternoon back in February. They will almost certainly also already know that his new book, Russian Roulette, which was actually being written at the time of his book signing here, is in the shops and available to order from Mr. Books. Anthony's assistant has just mentioned to me that he will be talking to fans at the St. James Theatre in London on Sat. December 7th at 11am. Some tickets are still available if you're quick....

Anthony Horowitz and a nervous looking Mr. Books at February Book signing

Hans Christian Andersen's tales alive at Mr. Books!...

The picture doesn't do it justice. Come and see for yourselves

That Raven is watching you!

And here it is the pictures you've all been waiting for..... The new Mr. Books window display. Very Christmasy? Well sort of but actually with some very dark undertones. It's loosely based on the story of The Snow Queen which, as I'm sure you all know, is a Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Story which tells a moral story of the fight between good and evil. You know the usual kind of folk lore stuff. It looks far better when you see it live so come and have a look when you're passing. No, make that come and have a look by dropping everything and making a special trip tomorrow!
Mrs. Books can be proud of her creation I hope you will all agree. In fact I think I might start hiring her out!...

An Entrepreneur at Work!....

A rare photo of Yours Truly taken by someone who came into my shop calling himself "Schubert" which I think is his made up photographer arty name and not his real name, who wanted to shoot me for a series he's doing called "Entrepreneurs at Work." for a photo web site called blipfoto. Not the most flattering picture I've ever seen of myself but pretty natural none the less so I quite like it. I like the sound of "entrepreneur" as well. Never really thought of myself as that....

The Snow Queen....

Like all great fairy tales The Snow Queen is a story of good triumphing over evil. It tells how the innocence of a little girl saves her little boy friend from certain damnation after his heart has become corrupted by the evil from a shattered magic mirror. What's this got to do with anything? Come and have a look at the latest window display at Mr. Books Bookshop to find out!...

Selfies....

Egg Head



Caught in the sites

I heard on the news this morning that "Selfie" is the top new word to enter the Oxford English Dictionary this year. Now I know that some of you Tonbridge Blog readers object to our ever changing language so some will view this as a change for the worst. I just see it as a great opportunity to play around with some images of myself and post them here for you all to ridicule me....



Good Morning Piccadilly....

School Report....

Slade Primary School are the only primary school right at the heart of Tonbridge. I have a special interest in them as my daughter went there from years 3 to 6. The motto of Best Team Happy may not be some age old Latin phrase but it typifies the ethos of the school. Mrs. Resch who has been Head Teacher there since 1999 has had a huge influence on the school. As a front person for a school they don't come much better for first and indeed lasting impressions. The only thing is, even though I've known her for seven or eight years now, both through the school and socially, I still find it hard to call her Vivienne. I can't put my finger on why other than that's just what you do where teachers are concerned, even with someone as warm as she is . So, Mrs. Resch is what I shall continue to call her. Best Team Happy is what they are all about and it shows. Right from day one the children learn that they should do their best, work together and be happy themselves and help others be happy around them. As an ethos for a school goes it's not a bad one is it. So imagine how flattered I was when Mrs. Resch walked into Mr. Books a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would help them out with their public relations to enable them to reach out more to the community and tell them what the school is all about.....

The Week ahead....

What's happening this week? Any events going on that you'd like to share with the people of Tonbridge on TonbridgeBlog?
Up and down the High Street nearly all the shops have their Christmas windows dressed and Mr. Books will be doing the same later in the week. Consultant Creative Director, sometimes known as Mrs. Books, promises that it could be her best yet and, knowing what she has planned for it, I think she could be right. You'll have to wait and see....

BOok ArT attack....

A while ago I wrote to the schools in Tonbridge asking if they'd like to take part in a "Book Art" competition for a bit of fun (and some book token prizes.) For a while I thought that no one had received my email and I put the idea away as another one of my whims. Then, right on deadline, two schools' art teachers arrive with bundles of beautiful book art of all descriptions. The brief was pretty wide open and was to come up with a unique piece of art which, in some way, involved books. I knew that the interpretations would be wonderfully varied and so it proved. We've only had entrants from Hillview and Hayesbrook so far so come on Judd, Hugh Christie, Weald of Kent and TGS. Maybe it'll be too late for this year unless you're very quick but it could be back next year by popular demand. Here's a few of the entries sitting in the window at Mr. Books where they'll be on display for about a week....

Gary Bunt: Artist....

Apparently Tonbridge artist Gary Bunt's paintings sell for quite a sum these days. Good luck to the guy as he fought a well publicized long fight with cancer some years back. I'm not sure I'd pay thousands for any of these but I do really like several of them. Lowry-esque with a hint of Beryl Cook thrown in for good measure. See what you think here

Tonbridge Tree Huggers....

Nick Clegg keeps writing to me even though I was only a member of the Lib Dem party for a year and haven't been for about five years. Now he's banging on about green issues when, as he points out, most Tories on the other side of the Coalition have quietly let it drop. This is what he had to say:

"Dear Mark,

This week I made one of my most important speeches of the year. Miss it? I wouldn’t be surprised: it was on the environment – an issue that used to be the height of fashion across Westminster but has now fallen out of the political vogue.

I met with green groups so that they could hear direct, from me, that the Liberal Democrats are as committed as ever to the green agenda. Back when the Coalition formed, the Conservatives said they wanted this to be the greenest Government ever. We haven’t forgotten and every day we’re holding them to their word.

It doesn’t make for a particularly quiet life in Whitehall. To be honest, I think the Tories find it baffling. They’ve decided that there are no longer votes in green issues because people are too busy worrying about the economy – and they can’t fathom why we still care. And yet last month all of us sat to hear Sir Mark Walport, the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, set out the threat of climate change in the plainest possible terms. He said politicians need to stop asking if climate change is happening, or if humans are responsible for it. We need to get on with tackling it. What more do the doubters need?

You would, on this occasion, expect Ed Miliband to get it. He is a former Climate Change Secretary after all. But Labour’s populist promise to temporarily freeze energy bills would be a huge blow to our green commitments. Not only is it a con – with the energy companies bound to hike up prices before and after the freeze – but it would also massively undermine investment in our renewables industry, threatening clean energy and thousands of jobs.

So it’s up to us to keep pushing policies that protect our environment – whether that’s our 5p charge on plastic bags, cutting greenhouse gases, or getting more low carbon cars on our roads.

I’m green because I want to hand on the best world possible to our children and grandchildren – tell me why you’re green too.

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg"


So is he just a sandal wearing namby pamby tree hugging liberal or are these policies still relevant as we come out of one of the worst recessions in centuries? What do you think and does it have any relevance to Tonbridge?...

Neither Trick nor Treat....

Walking in south Tonbridge last week I noticed this gem in the window of a house (which shall remain numberless) on Woodfield Road.

"We do not celebrate Halloween in this house
so please do not disturb us"

So are they just miserable people with no sense of what young folk like and no willingness to adapt to modern ways or have they got a good point? Back in my youth they'd have been prime candidates to have their gates lifted (now there's another tale!) if indeed they had any gates to lift....

Tonbridge Books....

Walking with a history lesson sounds good to me. Margaret Beston's poetry always moves me

About to be reprinted. Just as well as Mr. Books is down to last 3 copies

If you want to buy someone (maybe yourself) a book with a local connection this Christmas then why not consider one of these. All very decent in their own right and yet all quite different. All of course available at all good bookshops.... and Mr. Books! Prices vary but none of them will cost you anything like a take away meal for two....

Bob Turcan's is a nice enough pictorial guide. Three Chevrons tells us the history of the
thousand years of the Clare family -as in the Tonbridge Castle founders if you didn't know

Happy Halloween everybody!...

Don't go falling asleep in the bath now!

Italian cuisne in Orpington anyone?...

Found myself in Orpington last night, for reasons I haven't got time to go into but wanted to mention the restaurant we ended up eating dinner in called Café Medi. Didn't look much from the outside and right on main drag of the High Street nearly put us off. But £12.95 for set priced menu sounded good to me so in we went (not before having walked the whole length of the street and back to see what the choice was.) Let me just say that it was really fabulous not just for the price but fabulous full stop. I think it's a popular place anyway but, if you are ever over that way pay them a visit and you almost certainly won't be disappointed. Apparently the head chef is a bit moody (aren't they all?!) but, hey, if the food's that good who cares so long as he stays in the kitchen! You can see their menu here

Ann Treneman at Mr. Books last Saturday....

And here is Ann Treneman during the book signing event at Mr. Books and standing proudly outside the shop just before.
"It was great of Ann to agree to come along last Saturday and it's not every day that you get The Time Political Sketch Writer, a journalist with such a fabulous reputation in my small independent bookshop in little old Tonbridge," said a thrilled Mr. Books! "Oh and there are still some signed copies left in stock in the shop." He added....

Jane Austen? Hardly recognisable....

I loved this story in The Telegraph about Jane Austen being given the "Katie Price treatment" as her face is to feature on the new £10 note. For a moment I thought it was referring to something else but that part of her anatomy appears not to be in view so I suppose it must be talking about the way she has been 'touched up' to use a photographer's parlance. As many of you will know Jane Austen's family come from around these parts and there is a very active Tonbridge branch of the Jane Austen Society. I'm sure they'll be tickled by the story....

Sweet smells....

Blimey those Drytec smells in Tonbridge can be a bit overpowering!...

Will it be 1987 Storms all over again?....

Let's hope not but it could be time to batten down the hatches if weather reports are anything to go by. Are you listening Michael Fish?! Bob Ogley, who found fame by writing In the Wake of the Hurricane and many other Kent history books, will have his pen at the ready!...

Ann Treneman at Mr. Books tomorrow....

She's The Times political sketch writer, she appeared on the Andrew Marr Show last Sunday to give her views on the stories in the Sunday papers. She's very approachable and I'm sure won't bite and she'll be signing books and talking to customers at Mr. Books from 2pm to 4pm tomorrow (that's Saturday.) This is a great chance to meet Ann and perhaps have her sign her latest book, Finding the Plot 100 Graves to Visit Before You Die, for you. It sounds a bit of a deadly topic but I assure you it it'll be worth getting hold of a copy.

"It's a slight departure from Ann's usual political sketches but it's still a great read and is written in her usual deadpan (geddit?) style!" Commented Mr. Books.....

Tonbridge People Power....

Thanks for the masses of comments coming through about the new Angel Centre development it shows that, when there is something major happening in the town, people really do start to get involved. Whether it changes the outcome remains to be seen but a bit of people power often goes a long way....

We pay our taxes: Amazon vs Hive.co.uk

This is my comment to the boss of Amazon who reckons that they are a benefit to the UK and that they do pay their taxes. Read the article here:

"I didn't hear any mention of the way his company has virtually destroyed the traditional bookshops in the UK and other countries. I didn't hear anything about how they have used tax advantages to undercut prices in order to create a virtual monopoly market for themselves. Use Hive.co.uk as a very competitive online bookseller. They are the initiative of Gardners Books who are a family run, large wholesaler who supply most of the independent bookshops in the South. Every book, cd or dvd you buy from them is similarly discounted and provides a small commission to your nearest or favourite independent bookshop. Oh and I believe that they do pay fair taxes...."

Sainsbridge!!..

I've just come back from the Regeneration exhibition at the Castle and can confirm that there is indeed great interest in this Sainsbury's project. In fact you'd be forgiven for thinking it was the church Christmas jumble sale there were so many people milling around and trying to get in. A right old scrum going on, so there was, for what is now the last hour of the exhibition. Having now seen the plans I repeat what I said earlier: What's not to like? Considering how busy it was in the Old Council Chambers the staff, who all sported Sainsbury's badges even though most worked for the architects involved, were all very helpful and informative. I probed a bit deeper by asking one of them a few questions about the parking issue, particularly at the proposed cinema, and he said that this had been the number one concern during the weekend's public consultation. He emphasized this by saying that he wished he could hold up a neon sign which says that there would be plenty of parking, in fact far more than there currently is across the two sites. Congestion in the town centre could be another issue but, it seems, parking is covered off. If you like your sports then the facilities at the new leisure centre will be right up your street, much better than the current ones on offer at the Angel Leisure Centre by all accounts. The cinema itself looks like it will be a much needed, state of the art, modern complex and a real asset to the town. Sainsbury's will be, well, a supermarket and a big one at that. You'll be able to buy lots of, er, food and drink in there and there'll be lots of parking right outside. In fact much like any other large super market. It may be the crucial thing so far as dear old Sainsbury's are concerned but, sorry, I just can't get too whooped up about that bit of the project.
I guess the only negative that I can think of, provided they are as good as their word on the parking front, is the loss of Beales which currently is Tonbridge's only department store. But then that might open a door for some other group to move in like M&S or House of Fraser, perhaps even a John Lewis. Overall Tonbridge Blog is very positive about this development and can only see it being a strong stimulus for the town....

New shopping environment, a cinema. What's not to like?...

Quite a few comments coming in on the so called Regeneration of Tonbridge Plans, being exhibited for public consultation at the Castle, which is not surprising since it is likely to be the biggest development in Tonbridge for the next decade or so. The loss of parking seems to be an issue and some are concerned about the effect of shops possibly wanting to move off the High Street into the new units around the Angel development. I've got mixed views on this. On the one hand I can understand fears about the loss of parking spaces but would this really stop shoppers coming into the town? I doubt it will make too much difference. Wouldn't they be more likely to come to Tonbridge if the quality of the shops and the shopping environment were improved? Perhaps we should be thinking about how we improve access into the town by bicycle and public transport as well as by car. I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestion that parking charges should be on exit from the car park. This simple measure would do away with the need to guess how long you were going to stay when buying a ticket and would usually mean shoppers would stay longer. Very simple and very effective. Incidentally it would also do away with the laughable sight of two or three traffic wardens hovering over cars in the Angel car park whose tickets are about to run out. (It happened to me on more than one occasion.) Less revenue from parking fines from the council though so maybe they'll stick with the current crazy system!
A cinema in the town would be a big plus and I for one would support it. Anyone with teenage children will know what an absolute pain it is having to drive over to the Odeon and then back again later in order to make sure they are safe and don't have to walk back to High Brooms across deserted retail parks late at night. So we shouldn't underestimate how good it will be having a cinema. That said it would have to be comfortable, state of the art and not some flea pit....

Tonbridge Town Centre "regeneration"

A note from Tonbridge Civic Society I thought I'd share as the proposed plans are pretty significant for Tonbridge. Plus here's a link to Tonbridge and Malling BC's information about the project 

 

"This note is to give you details of the Public Exhibition concerning Sainsbury’s and the Council’s plans for the town centre.

 

The Exhibition will be held in the Council Chamber at Tonbridge Castle:

·         from 10am to 8pm on Friday 11 October and

·         from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 12 October.

 

We have been informed that the Exhibition will be set out in two parts, with a common theme of economic regeneration for the town centre.

·         Sainsbury’s will be presenting proposals to develop new facilities including new shops and restaurants to complement the existing town centre, a new larger Sainsbury’s supermarket, and a multi-screen cinema.

·         The Council will be displaying its plans for a proposed new leisure and community centre on Bradford Street car park.

 

This public exhibition is intended to provide the opportunity for local residents and businesses to come and see the proposals and to discuss them with representatives of Sainsbury’s, the Borough Council and their advisers.

 

The Council has indicated that feedback received from the exhibition will be used to refine the plans before planning applications are submitted."

 

Anyone got any thoughts on this. Shall we just let Sainsbury's do whatever they like with their our town? Happy to lose Tonbridge's only department store, Beales??..

 

National Poetry Day is this Thurday....

Still some tickets left for National Poetry Day evening of poetry being held at the library this Thursday. Advanced tickets available at Mr. Books at £3 each or take your chances on the door. I think you might even get a glass of wine included in that price so it cannot be bad....
Poetry Society
Forward Arts Foundation

Real bargains outside Mr. Books for £1....

Mr. Books has been selling loads of books priced at a round pound from outside the shop today. No wonder when you consider what some of them were. For example there were some hardback Terry Pratchett first editions in amongst the usual selection of paperbacks. Some lucky customer just picked up the complete works of George Bernard Shaw for a quid also. It's always worth having a quick browse if you're up this end of town....

Juice Master....

Despite the bad night's sleep last night (see earlier post) I have become an over night fan of Jason Vale the self proclaimed Juice Master. The often unlikely blends of apple, celery, spinach, lime, pineapple and ginger for example are absolutely delicious over ice. I bought a juicer last week really just because I didn't want to waste the bumper crop of apples we've had this year on my one tree. It has been very effective at juicing all those apples I'd usually discard but has become much more than that. Think I'll try the carrot, apple, beetroot, celery, lettuce and avocado recipe later on. I'm so impressed that I've approached the Juice Master himself to do a book signing and demo at Mr. Books. He's sold millions of his raw diet and recipe books and watching his videos there's no wonder why, he just oozes enthusiasm for the delicious juices. Let's hope he can squeeze me in!...

A Mad night....

Feeling very tired this morning. I now realise that getting home and making several energizing juice drinks, Jason Vale Juicemaster-style, with my new juicer machine, having a very late Chinese takeaway (their fault not ours) half a bottle of Pino Grigio whilst watching the first two episodes of Mad Men Series 5 on dvd and then, to cap it all, staying up till 2am to watch 10 Rillington Place, the story of serial killer Reginald Chrisitie does not a good night's kip make!...

Mr. Books Dilema....

This may sound a bit like a book title but actually this is no joke. Sometimes blogging can be a bit of fun. Sometimes it can be a way of breaking local and even occasional international news. Today I'm getting something off my chest.
I've been getting quite anxious over what to do with Mr. Books now for quite some time. Since moving from around the corner 16 months ago the shop has become a lot busier and, whilst not what I'd call thriving, the move has more than paid for itself. So why be anxious then? Well, you only have to pick up a newspaper or, as is increasing more likely, an i-pad, to see that bookshops have been closing at a rate of aprox. two per week across the country. So you might appreciate that it's not just my dilemma. The thought of struggling by for very little profit for another ten years or so is a little heart breaking. I love what I do but, as I always joke, this is the hardest I've ever worked, for the longest hours and for the least money! That's fine so long as your labour of love is occasionally rewarded. Those rewards are becoming less and less frequent as more and more people buy online, or cheap from supermarkets or, worst of all, down load e-books. Then there's the dreaded charity shops whose proliferation has choked the market still further. The rise of Oxfam Books, a dedicated charity bookshop with over 130 shops and a huge book barn in Huddersfield, might be the final nail in the coffin. There's little point in barking on, as many book dealers do, about how Oxfam pay little or no business rates, (Mr. Books pays around £3,000 a year btw) get all their stock free and have an army of volunteers. Little point really at all as it's all been said lots of times before. In short with all these combined forces it's becoming more and more difficult for it to make any kind of business sense having a bricks and mortar shop. You can only hold back the sea for so long. Eventually, inevitably it will break the defences and come crashing over you. Whilst new book sales have picked up a lot since moving onto the High Street one is still left with the feeling that you are being thrown the scraps from afew groups such as the lovely community minded folk, the older people who aren't computer savvy and those people who still like good old fashioned service. The problem is, and to a large extent I don't blame them, people will generally vote with their pockets and they have more and more opportunities to do so. Consequently the physical High Street bookshop is being hit from all angles and not really being helped very much by anyone. So what would I do instead? Well the obvious choice would be to do what 95% of book dealers do which is to trade online, by catalogue and at book fairs. The London Book Fair I often attend usually earns me more in a day than the shop does in a good week. That with no overheads, no lease agreement, no long term risk. Most book web sites charge around £30 per month and once again, there's no long term commitment. To be honest the only advantage of having a shop, apart from the sheer love of it, is the amount of books which get offered to you means you have constant supply. That said at present my storage is bursting at the seams. The books come in a lot faster than they go out!
The other possibility, and definitely my preferred solution, is to genuinely turn Mr. Books into a community shop with the community having a part share in the business. I haven't thought this through in any great depth yet or, for that matter, costed it out, but it might work something like this: several individuals, societies and interested bodies get together with myself and decide the value of the business, I keep half the business and they the other half between them. It could possibly be turned into a registered charity which becomes non profit making and gets all the benefits enjoyed by these organisations such as huge business rate relief. I myself would provide expertise and still help to run the shop along with volunteers and young work experience people helping out.  If anyone is interested in this idea then please do get in touch. I hope it wouldn't be too big an exaggeration if I said that it could help save part of the heart and soul of our little town....

Litter bugging me.....

Litter is a constant nuisance in Tonbridge and pretty much every other town up and down the land. Why don't people just put their cans, bottles, crisp packets, cigarette butts and, especially, kebab wrappers in a bin, or carry it home with them? It really is that simple. Other countries cope with litter by better education and instilling a sense of civic pride in people. The sign outside the Alms Houses on Pembury Road, next to the Police Station, sounds a bit of a desperate, feeble plea against the inevitable and just shows how big a problem this is. Will it make the slightest bit of difference though to the kind of selfish, ignorant morons who are either too drunk of stupid to care? I doubt it....

Heritage Weekend.....

I think the organisers of Heritage Weekend in Tonbridge were quite lucky in the end as they just about missed the worst of the storm which swept across England that day. I'm told that most of the strange folk dressed as medieval knights, merchants and peasants slept in their tents over night so they were even luckier to escape the eye of the storm. I did manage to go along briefly on Sunday to the Medieval Fayre and got to see this little fella. It's a Pygmy Owl and the cutest thing you've ever seen. Some people say that I have a bit of an owl-like face so maybe I have a soft spot for these nocturnal creatures being as they may be an ancient ancestor! Less cute was the open air toilet which made me wretch slightly even though it was clearly a fake; if you look closely you can just about make out the rat crawling among the foul mess. What's that? It wasn't a fake? The exhibitors had actually been using it? That's just disgusting!....

Number two 13th Century style!

Heritage Weekend....

Apparently it's Heritage Weekend today and tomorrow. Medieval events going on the Castle lawn, stuff happening at the parish church. Free entry to the Castle Gatehouse and probably other things. Please someone tell us more. I may even open up Mr. Books on Sunday to mark the occasion....

Tonbridge Blog & Tonbridge Mirror.....

Hope you like the new name. I thought about making it just The Tonbridge Mirror but considered this a step too far in one go so, depending on the reaction it gets, the name change could become a permanent fixture. I thought Tonbridge Mirror because this blog could be said to Reflect (geddit?) the events, views and opinions of it's readers. As you know TBlog always likes to take into account the views of its audience!...

A night out in Goudhurst....

Now I'm feeling a little groggy today after a bit of a late night. No not the sort of late night that my 19 year old son puts himself through. You know what I mean: pre-lash at his mate, Tom's, house, followed by Spoons till 10-30, Fusion till 4am and doner kebab on the way back to another mates house where he's crashing down for what little remains of the night. No not that sort of late night. My younger teenage daughter and her friends were going to a party in, of all places Goudhurst and my wife and I had, in a weak moment, offered to drive her there. So we thought, rather than drive there and back twice we'd spend the evening in Goudhurst or Cranbrook. Last night was a rotten night for driving with the rain lashing down all the way down the busy A21 so I was in a pretty irritable mood when we finally arrived. Dropped daughter and friends off in some quiet country lane at a stranger's house, gulp, and then had four hours to kill before the pick up time. Tried the Peacock, on the main road to Cranbrook, first but felt a little uneasy in there, you know like that scene from American Werewolf in London when the two back packers walk into the pub on the Yorkshire Moors and all the conversation stops whilst the regulars observe them. Well it wasn't quite that bad but getting somewhere close to that. There was no one eating in there even though the menu looked okay. It was a rainy night but that didn't excuse it so we went with our instincts and walked out. On to the Goudhurst Inn which looked very nice and plush indeed. The menu wasn't cheap but looked affordable enough. Posh Beer Battered Fish and Chips and mushy peas on the side for £13.25 that sort of thing. We'd noticed an Italian ristorante, as they say in Naples, on the way through so we asked in the pub about that and the reports were quite glowing so that's where we ended up. We made a mental note to go back to the Goudhurst Inn later for a night cap if we had time. The Italian is called La Zia Maria and it was lovely. Lovely food, even though we only had pizza, lovely friendly service, not over attentive or sucking up to you but just the right balance. It certainly seemed natural to the waiters. The spiciness of mine was a little too much though I have to admit so that'll teach me to go for the Piccante! Should have opted for the Quattro Staggioni probably. The deserts looked fab as well and we tried the tiramisu which was divine and, we were told, home made. The selection of beers, as is nearly always the case in this type of restaurant was a little limited and I can't really say much about the wine as I didn't have any but I'm sure that the list was fairly extensive. It would have been nice to have seen the odd micro brewery, craft bottled beer on the list but maybe that's just asking to much. The waiter even pointed out to me when I tried to leave a tip that we'd already paid a 10% discretionary service charge which was honest of him. Oh and he also brought a small glass of cold milk for me to cool down the mouth after that chilli pizza. All in all I would definitely recommend La Zia Maria and we will definitely return soon. Even the name of the place itself gives you a nice warm feeling. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it in English but it means The Auntie Mary and everyone has one of them don't they? Named after the owner's favourite Great Aunt with an old black and white photo of her given pride of place. We rounded off the evening with that night cap in the, now mostly empty, Goudhurst Inn in the outside covered area by an open fire. Then that drive back to Tonbridge in the rain....

Demise of the Post Office....

My comments on a Charles Moore's column today about Royal Mail privatization.... See article here on Telegraph web site  He points out that in less than a hundred years we've gone from 12 punctual deliveries every day to just one half hearted delivery six days a week. How did this happen? How did we get here??


"Sadly I have to agree with this. My experience of the postal service in recent times is mainly queuing up at the central post office in Tonbridge. You wait 5 or ten minutes to be called by a computerized voice to the relevant counter. You are then served by, usually a woman, who looks like she'd rather be any where else but serving you. As they used to say on Coronation Street "A face as long as Rosamund Street!" Being a bookseller I go to the PO at least twice a week and it's my least pleasurable part of the week.  Not so long ago I used to drive to a nice little sub Post Office which was on my way home. Olive was lovely and knew everyone by name; she'd often remind me to put "Printed Papers" on my boxes and envelopes. Of course they closed her down in the last round of sub PO closures. In fact when I moved to Tonbridge 20 odd years ago there were, I think, nine sub POs around the outskirts of the town. Now there are just two. Would privatization improve this situation? Let's hope so because, as you say Charles, a virtually monopoly means that, to paraphrase an old ad campaign, they try less harder!..."

And...

"I do hope that they keep the post boxes red. I still remember the great feeling of pride when my mum trusted me to run to the post box on the corner of the street. I was about six I suppose. Somehow the memory wouldn't be quite the same if it had been a clear plastic box!..."

New Harry Potter film....

Great news for Hogwarts and Harry Potter fans....read on using this link

That comment about the Castle Inn....

She is a bit naughty that Tonbridge reporter, Shams, on the Courier. She phones me up and asks me to comment about the closure of the Castle Inn on the bridge and I said that I didn't know it was to close. She then pushes me in her own special, innocent, quiet way to make some sort of comment and I think I said something, words to the effect, that it would make a nice bookshop café being in such a great location. "There..." I said, "...that's my comment." We then went on to chat about it and, before I know, my motor mouth has made reference to me being put off every time I walk past by the karaoke and the pool table and the feeling of it being a bit of a regular's place, I may have said estate- type pub. I thought about it after our phone call and wondered whether that would be the comment she'd use and, sure enough, it was. Next thing I know I've got people jokingly shouting You snob! through my shop doorway at me. Very sneaky Shams, very sneaky indeed. Still it's only what I'd do in her job so good look to her....

Filming Tonbridge....

Film crew out at the north end of Tonbridge High Street this morning. Anyone have a clue as to what they were filming? Perhaps it's another one of those documentaries about the demise of the tradition high street and how they're full of empty shops, hairdressers, estate agents, charity shops and cafes....

Strange Brew.....

Here's a subject that's closer to the hearts of a few T Blog readers. Beer. I've tried a number of bottle conditioned local (ish) ales over the summer and I particularly liked Hopsmack by Groombridge Brewery. That would be my winner. The draft beers I've particularly enjoyed have been Brew Dog and that one by Chapel Down called Curious Brew. I tasted these in Sankey's, Tunbridge Wells and will be back for more before the autumn leaves start to fall....

Edwin Apps back to haunt me!...

Edwin Apps was in Tonbridge recently for an exhibition and book signing. He was the guy who wrote All Gas and Gaiters, the long running comedy series with Dereck Nimmo as the bumbling clergyman. Edwin was a smashing chap and this is his latest exhibition if you happen to be near La Rochelle in the Vende area of France! There's something about his paintings I find fascinating and quite haunting. In fact I've got one on my wall at home and wouldn't mind this one as well....

Live book viewing with Skype on Mr. Books web site

Two new features on the Mr. Books multi coloured web site: You can now pay directly through the site on Paypal by simply clicking on the button. The other new feature is the Skype live viewing button. Customers can now click on the Skype button and view books live (and me for that matter) which is a lot quicker than trying to describe them on the phone. I think that you'll agree that this will revolutionize the book trade!...

Multi coloured bookshop....

MR. BOOKSBookshop

The new colourful Mr. Books website

Booker Prize coming up....

I've been at it again on the blogosphere. With this years awards coming up soon here are my thoughts about the Booker Prize in response to a Telegraph article:

"Bringing Up the Bodies? Haven't read and won't as I hated most of Wolf Hall. A Sense of an Ending I enjoyed v much; Finkler Question was superb; White Tiger was pretty damned good, The Gathering was good but wrist slashingly depressing; Line of Beauty was beautiful provided you don't mind copious gay sex descriptions; Vernon God Little I thoroughly enjoyed; Life of Pi was ace and a still haven't watched film which I've been meaning to all summer; The Blind Assassin wasn't too bad, Disgrace was harrowing but fabulous; God of Small things I couldn't get on with; Rites of Passage is a must read. That's not a bad record of the ones I've read. The one that I thought let them down (and this is controversial I know) was the supposed Booker of Bookers, Midnight's Children. Perhaps it was over my head as customers in my bookshop have said that it's their all time favourite book. Maybe I should stick to flogging them instead of trying to actually read them!!.."

Anyone have anything to add to that?...

On keeping up school standards....

I just posted this comment on an article in the Telegraph about how students are being chucked out of sixth forms half way through for performing poorly in their AS exams. Is it right that schools should be allowed to do this? Shouldn't they stand by the student instead since they have signed up for a two year course not a one year one? Does it raise the whole question of what our schools are there for?  Read the full article here

"It's high time someone in government put a stop to this nonsense situation. Many grammar schools are doing their communities a disservice and it has to stop. Highly selective schools have got themselves into a trap which they haven't got the guts to get out of. They push for ever higher standards, which seems a noble thing to do on the face of it, but that then has it's consequences further along which we are seeing now. In Tonbridge for example there is only one boys grammar school and it is super selective. That means that the vast majority of the boys from the town itself who pass their 11+ must go to nearby Tonbridge Wells a half hour bus ride away because they missed a few marks. Meanwhile the Tonbridge School in question, Judd School, takes in pupils from up to 1.5 hours journey time, in many cases well out of town, well out of county even. It's ludicrous that a school can leave students in the lurch instead of working out a solution and sticking by them. Yet it is allowed to happen. We hear the old excuse for this shocking treatment of young adults trying to make their way in the world that they don't want to let down the other students by lowering standards in the class. This is  just utter nonsense. We all know the real reasons so why pretend any different. What is required maybe is a rethink and a period of readjustment so that schools can reassess what it is that they are there for...."

More on Apostrophe Apprentice....

In reply to one or two of the comments to the earlier post, sparked off by The Apprentice runner up's well reported apostrophe debate, in fact Mr Books is short for Mark Richardson Books which complicates things even further. So it could even be Mr's Books and still be grammatically correct. Actually that should be M.R.'s Books. The Bookshop is in fact and entirely separate word just to indicate that it is in fact, if you didn't already know it by the name, a bookshop. That's why, on my instructions, the sign writer separated the Mr. Books from the Bookshop with a logo which is meant to be a couple of old fashioned tomes. So to be perfectly grammatical the name should be M.R.'s Bookshop.  All that said I'm still with Ms. Zissman on this. Just spell it how you like because (a) the language is allowed to evolve and (b)it is a trade name. BTW Mr. Books is in fact a registered trademark believe it or not, so no copy cats please.....

Summer Reading....

Also, I'm being all intellectual at the moment with my reading material. Well you're forced to do that sort of thing now and again when you have a bookshop even if just for appearances sake! I'm currently reading (well starting to read at any rate) Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse which seems quite appropriate in a way because a couple of weeks ago whilst in Cornwall I could see Godrevy Lighthouse, which is the lighthouse in question, most of the time in the distance and actually walked up onto the cliff tops to with a hundred yards of it. Quite spectacular views they are as well I can tell you. I'll report back on the goings on in the Ramsay family (in the book) when I've got further into it. If they're anything like the author and her fruity friends I reckon I'm in for a right old shocker.

Before this book I read Franz Kafka's famous Metamorphosis which, at only fifty odd pages, is more of a short story than a book but what a weird old carry on that was. I won't ruin it for you but this young bloke wakes up one morning and he's only gone and turned into a great big beetle. It takes him a little time to adjust and his family, not surprisingly, are a tad upset by the whole episode in Gregor Semsa's life. He dies of course after a few weeks or is it months and only finds true happiness right at the end.

I might try a James Patterson next or maybe a Danielle Steele. Having never read either author I really should....

Pretty Boy....

Some of the crazy stuff I post on twitter. Of course it's always a little abbreviated to fit in the allowable 140 characters. I find this is a bit limiting for a blabber mouth like me but it does keep you disciplined.  Anyway this is actually true. A man does keep coming in Mr. Books with a parrot on his shoulder.

"Man just came in shop with a parrot on his shoulder. The parrot said.... This is the third time in a few weeks. It has beautiful plumage btw"

Apostrophe Aprentice....

And here I go again. This time commenting on an article about the twitter debate raging about Aprentice runner up, Luisa Zissman's, lack of a grasp of punctuation.  Specifically correct use of the apostrophe. See the piece here Many of her followers on twitter would like her fired of course but here's my thoughts.

"You fools. She has been very clever by the look of it. No better way to court publicity than generating a debate even if at your own expense. In any case shouldn't it be "Bakers" Toolkit?! I have the same problem with my business. Should it be Mr. Books Bookshop (as it is) or Mr. Book's or Mr. Books' The young shrewd entrepreneur is right. At the end of the day it's a trade name so she should go with whatever looks right. Apostrophes are very over rated these days anyhow...."

What do you think?

BBC licence fee. Night light robbery?...

A customer in Mr. Books just mentioned that my blog has been quiet which is true. Even Tonbridge Blog needs a holiday now and again. To tell you the truth I have a severe case of the holiday blues this year having returned from an all to brief trip to North Cornwall a week or so ago. I normally find it quite hard to get going again after a break but that feeling usually only lasts a couple or three days. Could be another mid life crisis coming on. Oh God does that mean I'll have to buy another motor bike?!
Anyway, although I don't post a lot on this blog these days I am still pretty active blogging on newspaper web sites and twitter. Maybe I'll start sharing some of those with TBlog fans. For instance here's my comment against a Telegraph opinion column regarding whether or not the BBC should drop its licence fee at long last.

And here's my comment:
"In the current age it would be perfectly possible and reasonable for the BBC to ask customers to voluntarily pay for viewing it's channels in the same way as you might pay for Sky channels. The viewer should not be compelled to pay even if they decide not to watch BBC channels. Why should they? Once there was very little else to watch but now it is perfectly possible to avoid their channels altogether. If that means the Beeb having to run adverts then so be it. Often I'd rather see a limited number of commercials than the kind of self congratulatory links and ridiculous dancing number 3s and so on we are currently forced to endure...."

More on Baby news scoop...

You would expect Private Eye Magazine to put it better than TonbridgeBlog and they didn't disappoint!... (PS. I may even renew my subscription after seeing this!)