My Tonbridge memories (send in your own)....

Tonbridge blog requested some memories and stories from days spent in Tonbridge; today we received this lovely posting from a chap 12,000 miles away (ah, the wonders of the blogsphere!) Does this bring back any memories from other readers?...
ah, fond memories of mum and me queing at west's toy shop in the high street in the late 60's for the 'hot' toy for christmas: the chitty chitty bang bang car. she got me one too!also the gorgeous windows with the curved mirrors at caffyn's showroom up near the bingo hall and how you had to be ever so careful if you heard the bells of the fire engines turning out down those little streets near the castle.i'm a long way from home now (anglesea, 100km south west of melbourne on the great ocean road) but something must have stuck because now i'm the fire truck driver !
From Simon Hawkins, now living in Australia. Let's have some more; scroll down to find out how to send them or simply post a comment below....

Health and beauty tip number four; it worked for me!...

"TO PREVENT HAIR FROM BECOMING WHITE
Mix the fat of a black raven with wet thorns and rub into the roots of the hair." (From Syriac Book of Medicines)
Because you're worth it!

Drives me round the U-bend....

Getting ripped off by tradesmen. How can we avoid it? Recently I needed a plumber to do what turned out to be a rather awkward job fixing a leak in my U bend, toilet flush pipe and soil pipe. We weren't sure which of these it was so decided to have the whole lot replaced so that, hopefully, we would never need to have any further work done. The tricky bit was that it was one of those concealed unit type cisterns, the ones which were particularly popular in the 1970's and 80's designs. Why was that? Did they perhaps think that some how a normal, obvious-looking toilet cistern ceramic box was a little unsightly or something? Anyway my usual plumber was called in, I won't name him here, well maybe I will later! He gave us a figure of £200 and I swear he said "up to" that amount, so was obviously expecting to pay about that, hopefully a bit under. Now I know that plumbers, plasterers etc. are in demand at the moment, but I thought that he wouldn't need reminding any more than 2 or 3 times to come along and actually carry out the job. Oh no, 7 or 8 phone calls and a chance meeting outside Somerfield at York Parade later and still no plumber. He had said the job wasn't urgent since it was probably only the flush pipe leaking fresh water slowly onto the top of the U-bend; I had by this time put a sponge in a bag to catch and soak up the water (a rather ingeneous solution, even though I say so myself, but only ever a very temporary measure.) So, nearly five months went by before I eventually pleaded with him to come around and do the job because the leak had got worse, I little bit of a white lie, but it did the trick! He turned up a hour late on the arranged day, took nine hours to not quite finish the job, left us with two dirty great holes in the cistern plaster board casing and said we'd have to leave it two weeks to let the flooring thoroughly dry out. He'd been there so long that, and it was Maundy Thursday evening, he said he'd have to work out the bill and let us know. Fair enough, I thought. About a week later I nearly fell off my chair when I received his invoice for £490.01 (let's not forget the penny!) To cut a very long story short I sent him a letter pointing out that it he had said it would be up to £200 and not two and a half times that amount; in any case he hadn't fixed in the flush button, nor had he made good the job ie fixed the pannelling and holes in the partitioning back on. It seems that the law on this is somewhat ambiguous; on the one hand his final bill shouldn't be unreasonably higher than his estimate, but on the other it depends on whether his job has been up to scratch and whether it reflects the true amount of time he spent doing the job. So what is the worth of any kind of estimate, if he can then just charge whatever he likes and claim that verbal estimates are not accurate? Any lawyers out there, feel free to help me out on this one! In this case I knew that the job needed finishing, I thought that I needed to pay him to avoid any legal wranglings, so compromised on him coming in, finishing the work and refixing the damage (he had made) for no extra charge. I am left with mixed feelings; was I ripped off? I certainly don't feel completely satisfied with a job wells done, but at least the job is done and hasn't been left messy. All's wells that ends Wells, maybe....

My speech to Tonbridge Lions....

I was quite overwhelmed with the reception I was given at the Lions monthly dinner last night. I don't mind admitting that I had been more than a little nervous in the days leading up to the event. I had been asked if I would talk on "a subject" by one of the senior members of the Lions. Therein lay the difficulty, "a subject" is a little broad. I ended up talking about what I know best, the book trade; more specifically the theme was based on a subject I posted on Tonbridge blog about a comment by some twenty-something young geeky looking fellow who I encountered whilst handing out flyers for the Tonbridge Book Fair. To the question "Book Fair on Sunday at Tonbridge School?" whilst thrusting a leaflet towards him, he kept his hands in his pockets and said, rather matter of factly, "No thanks I've got the internet!" thus summing up, in six flippant words, one of the fundemental problems facing the book trade at the moment. I'm quite certain that he was wrong in his quick assesessment but I thank him for giving me a great theme on which to base my speech; I may not have been able to do it without him! I did start by apologising that I would ramble on, Ronnie Corbett style but with one important difference: there would be no joke! and indeed I did ramble on about stories of tunnels under the castle in the book called Tonbridge Legends, I rambled on about Aesops Fables, Frank Chapman and other books; I even threw in some of my own poetry for good (or some might say bad) measure. I went on to make a few serious points defending traditional media but also saying that books and the internet can live side by side and compliment each other. On the whole the talk went very well and what was really heartening, apart from the kind words expressed by most people, was that one gentleman was even given the task of doing a mini speech about my speech! I'm really glad, and flattered to have been given the opportunity to speak to the Lions, but also glad it's done! If you want to read my original posting on this subject scroll down to about October or November last year....

How times change....

This from Clifford's Guide to Tunbridge Wells, 1834.
Useful Information
For Those Residing in or Visiting Tunbridge Wells
There are races annually at Tunbridge Wells which usually take place about the middle of August, and are well attended by the visitants as well as the neighbouring gentry. They are principally supported by a subscription, which, as it is generally very liberal, and affords, at least, two day's diversion.
Musical Instruments let out for hire.
Table and Bed Linen, and Houshold Furniture, ditto.
Servants may be hired by the Day, Week, or Month &c.
Dinners dressed and sent out to private Families from the Hotels.
Sedan Chairs and four-wheel flies may be had on the shortest notice.
Each of the Hotels furnishes excellent Post Chaises and open Carriages.
There are three excellent Billiard Rooms: one at the upper Assembly Rooms; and the other two at Elliot's Library, Parade, and R.&T. Fry's Library, Calverley Promenade.
In Tunbridge Wells and it's vicinity, there are many valuable plants to be found; and those who have a taste for this interesting and useful study, will be amply re-paid by encouraging botanical researches.
Fishing, Fowling, and Hunting in the immediate neighbourhood.

Tonbridge Lions Dinner at the Hadlow Manor....

I've been asked to be an after dinner speaker at the Tonbridge Lions monthly gathering at the Hadlow Manor Hotel next Monday. I felt very flattered when they asked me last Novemeber whether I would do a talk, then I put it to the back of my mind as it was several months away, then I almost forgot all about it, then they reminded me. Now it is a few days away, now I'm thinking who is going to be there, now I'm thinking what the heck will keep an audience entertained for half an hour or so? Now I'm getting into a mild state of panic whenever I think about. That's me above pondering over it! Shall I
(a) go on holiday and pretend I forgot all about it? (Chicken out!)
(b) Go along and wing it, Ricky Gervaise in The Office motivational speech style baseball cap on and turned back to front?
(c) Really prepare for it and yet be so crammed up with information that on the night I can't think where to start and end up getting stage fright?
(d) or what, any ideas anyone, please, no really please????

Hay fever....

That's Hay on Wye Literary Festival fever! For those of you who have never been and enjoy books and all things literary, or if you just enjoy a lovely friendly, and frightfully middle class, atmosphere, you should make the effort. It's on during the end of May half term week, from May 24th to June 3rd, and there will be hundreds of famous and wanabe famous authors, poets, entertainers, TV presenters and performers there. There's cheap and wholesome food in abundance, loads of activities for the kids, there's around 40 secondhand bookshops, all within a small area, to browse around. On previous trips to Hay I've met Terry Pratchett, Roger McGough, Francesca Simon (Horrid Henry author) Tony Ross (The famous illustrator) and seen dozens of other actors and literary folk. In any other place the traditional story teller, pictured above, would be shooed away as a weirdo, but in Hay he's just part of the street scene! Life's too short not to visit Hay on Wye at festival time at least once; and you can stay in the beautiful Brecon Beacons or Black Mountains national parks, go pony treking, walking, mountaineering, rock climbing, camping, even go on an army assault course if you've got the energy after all the festival activities Look I know it's in Wales, but only just the other side of Offa's Dyke....

Mayor of Maidstone, sort your self out!...

Reading in the local rag at the weekend I picked up in a small, almost incidental piece that the Mayor of Maidstone is getting a new mayoral car. Very nice I must say, tax payer's money and all that. Actually Tonbridge blog does not have an issue with that if the old one is clapped out then fair enough, he has to present the right image and all that don't you know! So what make of car is it to be then? A Jaguar Sovereign, Ford Mondeo Ghia, Rover 75, or even maybe a Bentley Continental, a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud or, if he's feeling sporty an MGF or an Aston Martin. No none of these for the Maidstone number 1 councillor. What's he getting? A blummin Lexus? One hundred per cent Japanese, Toyota-built electronics-laden characterless tin box on wheels. In fact the short list didn't even seem to feature a British car at all. There's no wonder the car industry is in such a mess if a mayor of a town in the Garden of England can't bring himself to be seen in one of our home grown cars. Don't give me all that bull about none of them having British parts anyway, that's not the point; these people should show some pride and set an example. Now, when is the Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling's car up for renewal? Councillor Ann Kemp I hope you are listening! You can have a pink one, a sporty one, furry dice hanging from the rear view mirror, but for heaven's sake make it a British made one....

Byson and Winchester, two great books , one must read....

If you read nothing else this year then take a break, take a week off, take on holiday, take a sickie, whatever it takes but do read these two great books: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and Simon Winchester's The Map that Changed the World. Bryson's book because it attempts to answer nearly all the questions a layman could ever wish to know about the size of the Universe, the smallness of the atom, how come there are no more dodos etc, etc. and does so in an entertaining way. The book is over 500 pages long but it managed to keep me gripped for most of it; the man took three years to research and write it for God's sake so it has to be worth a few days of your time to read it. Winchester's book is another one of those seemingly boring topics, like Cod and The Potato, you'd think that very few people would be interested in but manages to captivate you and you realise that you don't have to be a geologist or an academic to be interested in rocks, fossils and strata if the book is suffieciently well written. It's about William "Strata" Smith, who dedicated much of his life to devising a map of the underground of England and Wales, in the late 1700s, at a time when it was accepted fact that the Earth had only been around since around 4,400 BC, because it said so in the Bible! So his thoughts and writings on fossils which must have been at least millions of years old were, to most, just gobbledigook. Like all great geniuses of British history Smith ended up in a debtors prison, having had his ideas plagerised, and his wife went mad and turned into a nyphamaniac, eventually ending up in a lunatic asylum. And all this for a map!! This story really should, if it hasn't already, be made into a period film. Read the books for yourselves and please share any recommendations of your own particularly good recent must reads....

On Smoking by an Ex-Smoker....

Only ten weeks to go before the total ban of smoking in public places, except of course in that most public of all places, the street. Restaurants all over Tonbridge, Kent and the rest of England will join the other UK countries by, finally, introducing the ban. What will be the effect of this. Probably defiance from some tough guys, who will no doubt dig their heels in and smoke 40 a day instead of their usual 20 pack of cancer sticks. Tonbridge blog suspects that most will just carry on, except they'll smoke in the street, huddled outside pubs and restaurants in the newly created smokers cliques; in the summer it won't be an issue because they'll all sit outside wherever they can. But what about their freedom of choice? I hear the cry. That is a point; what about their freedom of choice to make our hair and clothes stink for days, their freedom to give the rest of us a higher risk of getting throat and lung cancer. Yeah what about that! It's hard to believe tha in these days of far more limited advertising, bans in offices already in force and the general out casting of smokers which has been going on for the last 15 years at least, that smoking seems to be as popular today as it was in Walter Raleigh's day. Maybe it's time to ban it in the streets and parks as well. Stink out your own homes if you are that determined, but leave the rest of us with clean air thanks very much....
By and Ex-Smoker
PS. There could be a gap in the market for a chain of smokers dens, where hardened nicotine addicts can go to just lay down and smoke themslves into a mellow haze; bit like the old opium dens!

Poetry that wonderful forgotten art....

I'm a big fan of poetry as an art form. I try to promote it at the book fairs held at Tonbridge School; however, if we are lucky, only maybe half a dozen people turn up for the open mike slot held at the fair in the afternoon. Like a fool I press on with it and will soon be holding a monthly open mike session in the back room of the Ivy House pub, on the High Street. For the past three years I have worked together with a publisher called John Dench, of Green Arrow Publishing, to produce a poetry competition, and an anthology of the best of them. It hasn't exactly made the two of us millionaires but it hasn't lost money either and, most importantly, it has promoted local poetry and given poetry enthusiasts a platform on which to be published. You can buy Fine Scribes 2 at all good book stores, and especially at MR. Books near the Castle in Tonbridge. Before you rush out and do just that here are the three prize winning poems so you can judge for yourself:
IST PLACE:Memory Jogging by Wally NewbyShe writes notes to herself. She always has done. A simple deviceTo avoid relying upon memory alone. Icons, Markers along the road of Life.These are not Shopping Lists. Those day by day, week by week, Lists of necessities that fuel the Fridge. Essentials that feed the body in life's continuumNo .....These are notes of things to be done. Jobs that mark the progress of an orderly life Jobs that keep our world under control. A priority order of Jobs, keeping chaos at bay.George wrote them as well, Though his were the more energetic tasks. Spray the roses, Trim the hedge, Service the Car.... M o T ...Her notes were more domestic, Little things as well as large....Write to Helen... Present for Jill Sew the cushions... Library books.Neither were these notesAppointments or anniversaries.They always recorded dates uponThe calendar mounted on the Kitchen wallThat sacrosanct chart.The when, the why, the where, the how,The plan that governed all their movementsDetermined their future and plotted the way aheadWhich, somehow now Seems a shade less certain. Not quite so extensive, Perhaps, somewhat less ambitious.So she bites her lip and trembles, Remembering George, and better days And writes a note now, Just for Herself........2nd PLACE:IDYLL by Len ScottThis bay reminds me of two outstretched arms the sea within them rarely turbulent. A settled calm most common day by day though frisky winds may briefly rise and rouse that placid surface into ecstasy.So when we two to this coast come alone far from family fret and city's roar the sea's calm is a mirror of our need for silence and the melding of like minds,our bodies imaged in its tender swell.We live within a cabin on a clifflike castaways upon a desert isle.Two happy children, we explore the beachfind smooth striated stones of many hues,to seaward skim or, wonder-struck, to save.We swim far out beyond the bay's embrace rough-towelling on return to love again. And in this world of time-suspense it seems the westering sun will beam and stretch our day by gently dawdling on horizon's edge.Watches we forget to wind but man has set a marker to remind us of the passing hours - tall and black a windmill stands, whose sweeping sails spell seconds with a 'hush-hush-hush'The fields stretch far beyond our cabin door wheat-ears nodding in the evening breeze. We hold each other close, begin to weep. Not for ourselves alone but for this beauty which, like us, must pass, must surely pass.THIRD PLACE:Quinces by Margaret BestonChopping quinces helps.Forcing my knife through the skin Attacking the hard, hard flesh I slice, I quarter, dice and decimate Cutting through to the core Relieving the tension Disseminating anger and hate.For a second I wish It was his flesh battered, bruised Mashed, pulped and boiling in the pan Instead of this golden fruitBut time moves onSetting point is reached. I pour the honeyed liquid Into the gleaming jars Seal tight their lidsClosure.

Words that sent a tingle down my spine....

A customer in my shop pointed out to me today that there was a superb article by Joseph Connolly, a man after my own heart, in the Telegraph over the w/e and of course you can also read it on the Telegraph web site HERE. No offence to Mr. Connolly, (that's him above) but I hope that I don't look like him in 20 years time. I may not look like him but I'm sure that I already think like him. For me, being a bookseller and all, it was scarily close to my own experiences; especially the bit about why certain types of people like to collect not just books but all sorts of objects. The author has written books on collecting modern fiction first editions and it's amazing how his early days seem to mirror what I'm going through at present. It can be a lonely existence for us book sellers and collectors; in fact most book dealers I meet are also collectors themselves. It's so hard to resist salting away some of those gems which we find in amongst the dusty old boxes found in some old loft or garage, even though we know that unless some of them get sold each week then we simply don't get paid. By God it's an interesting way to not earn a living though. Have a read of the article even if you're not a book lover or collector, but especially if you are. The world would be a much less interesting place without people like Joseph Connolly....

Downtown Tonbridge PD....

If you were someone who had fallen asleep in the 1970s and suddenly awoke blindfolded in Tonbridge High Street today you might be forgiven for thinking that you were in Harlem, New York. Is it me or has there been a creeping increase over the last thirty odd years in the use of yank-style emergency sirens. I know the noise they emit has evolved, but I'm talking about the massively increased over use of them. Every ten minutes or so there's a police car or ambulance rushing off to another violent scene of battling street gangs, or a fire engine whirring its way to another towering inferno. Call me old fashioned but was there anything actually wrong with the nee nor, nee nor, sound or, for that matter the simple bell of the fifties and sixties. I know of at least one retired couple who are moving away from the area mainly due to this unceasing nuissance. The new sound might make the coppers and paramedics feel like they're on the set of ER or something but, to the vast majority, these sirens have become the ultimate in annoying noise pollution....

Downtown Tonbridge PD....

If you were someone who had fallen asleep in the 1970s and suddenly awoke blindfolded in Tonbridge High Street today you might be forgiven for thinking that you were in Harlem, New York. Is it me or has there been a creeping increase over the last thirty odd years in the use of yank-style emergency sirens. I know the noise they emit has evolved, but I'm talking about the massively increased over use of them. Every ten minutes or so there's a police car or ambulance rushing off to another violent scene of battling street gangs, or a fire engine whirring its way to another towering inferno. Call me old fashioned but was there anything actually wrong with the nee nor, nee nor, sound or, for that matter the simple bell of the fifties and sixties. I know of at least one retired couple who are moving away from the area mainly due to this unceasing nuissance. The new sound might make the coppers and paramedics feel like they're on the set of ER or something but, to the vast majority, these sirens have become the ultimate in annoying noise pollution....

Bedgebury Pinetum....

Took a trip to the National Pinetum at Bedgebury (Near Flimwell) on Easter Sunday. I'd heard good things about it so decided to make a family day out of it. Curious mixture of beautiful scenery, especially if you are into conifers, and mountain bikers whizzing and splashing across rough tracks around you. It seems to work though probably because the area is quite large. To give you an idea of the scale of the place, the family cycle track, more or less around the perimeter, is about 13 km. Even if you are not into spruce, larch, and fir trees you cannot fail to be impressed by the huge range of conifers in the heart of the gardens. There's everything from dwarf to mighty Californian Redwoods, in fact they claim to have half of the total mumber of conifer species of the world planted at Bedgebury. The tracks vary from tarmac to very boggy dirt track, but on the whole it's very easy under foot. There are some unexpected things like an enormous log swing which can take around a dozen kids at once, and a large wooden climbing frame. There's a new feature called "Going Ape" which is a sort of Wear 'em Out for adults high up in the trees and involves aerial run ways and other scary things like that; but you do have to pay £25 extra for that, which did seem a bit steep. In all a great and quite different day out. There's only a £6 car park charge and no entry fee. Give it a try, but take or hire a mountain bike to do it justice. I'm definitely going back in the winter if it looks anything like the pictures on their web site....

Tonbridge blog is flattered....

What have the Pembury Rd. Baptist Church and LAMPS theatre group have in common? Absolutely nothing except that both of them have requested to have a link on Tonbridge blog to show off their new web sites and get a bit of free PR; well here you go then. Actually T blog is quite flattered that organisations are now actually requesting to be on here as links. This is the third one and I'm quite happy to add more so long as they appear to be useful for the folk of Tonbridge town and beyond. Anyway here they are.... www.pemburyroadbaptist.org.uk www.lamps.org.uk

Nearly 23,000 hits for Tonbridge blog in March....

22,638 to be precise. That is a massive rise on the previous highest month (Feb) which was nearly 16,000 hits. In fact the hit rate, that's the number of page views, has gone up every month since the site was launched last June. Big deal you might say, YouTube gets around 100 million hits a week, probably, and to that I say sod off and launch your own site if you think you can do better!...

Greenwash update....

In the latest Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Performance and Finance report, issued in a 24 page pamphlet printed on heavy glossy paper stock, they state that a "New Priority" is to "Make a positive local contribution to tackling the causes and effects of climate change." They declare that they will first prepare a new strategy setting out the direct action to be taken etc.... You get the idea. I hope they do something like this and that it is not just hot air and that they aren't just jumping on the greenwash bandwagon because they think they should be seen to be doing something. As mentioned in the previous posting they could start by not wasting endless glossy paper on public relations exercises such as this latest document (which, by the way, cost us, the poll tax community charge payer, money.) The other immediate thing they could do, instead of just talking about it and preparing strategy documents, is to empty the recycling skips more often. I went to recycle some paper at the weekend only to find that the paper skips were not only overflowing, but there was a sea of papers and magazines piled two feet high all around them. No doubt some jobsworth at the council will try to trace the individuals responsible and fine them for illegally dumping waste instead of facing the reality that TMBC, and therefore himself, are not doing their job efficiently enough. They cannot bleat on about forming new strategies if they can't even get the simple things right first....

Stop showering us with leaflets!...

No I'm not talking about junk mail order companies but our own council. After I'd got over the shock of seeing my household poll tax community charge statement I couldn't help but notice that there was not one but four separate leaflets from the various different services, each one telling me how great they are and how they had outperformed other councils in customer satisfaction surveys and the like.There was one from KCC, another from Kent Police, one from the Fire Brigade, one telling me that I could reclaim if I thought I was paying too much. You get even more with your business rates statement. To get these leaflets printed is not cheap, particularly the one from Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, whose 24 page glossy pamphlet is on fairly high grade paper. Tonbridge blog wonders how many lunches and dinners, paid for by the print suppliers, it took to persaude the pampered council employees responsible for it of the merits of glossy over some lower grade (and alot cheaper) paper. I personally don't mind paying for local services, but object to this over spending on information leaflets. In these days of the internet wouldn't it suffice to have one sheet of paper with all the relevant web site addresses on it so that we'd all save money, the council would save time and resources and we'd all be saving the environment cutting down less trees?...

Pollution in Tonbridge update....

Last weekend the local press reported on the Environmental Monitoring Report 2006's findings that the pollution levels in Tonbridge town centre are too high. They also pointed out that levels in all the borough's lakes are "either excellent or satisfactory..." That's ok then; we can all choke to death in the High Street secure in the knowledge that the fish are safe in Barden Lake! Time to take up Scuba diving perhaps!....

Quarry 'ill, Le Mount Royale....

Apparently Quarry Hill will be one of the first "mountains" that will qualify Tour de France riders to be King of the Mountains! This has to be some sort of joke surely; I know it can get you a bit out of puff on a mountain bike on a hot summers day, but these guys are super human aren't they. Anyway if you want find out more about peletons, haute categories and green jersys then TMBC, our own council, have quite a useful jargon buster breakdown on their web site which you can view HERE Vive La Tonbridge Borough Council!...

Adults only camping....very tempting!...

Tonbridge blog stumbled across an interesting web site yesterday for Mabledon Farm. Quite useful actually, so I've added it to the useful list in the column to the right. It has details of the Apple Acres Camp site, some touristy info for campers, such as details of cycle hire at Bewl Water; it also has a list of all the boot fairs at Mabledon this summer. BUT, why oh why, does it advertise the camp site as an ADULTS ONLY site. What is all that about? I hope they mean families only. Or no unaccompanied children or groups of teenagers. Is it really adults only? What, are they into sourcy adult entertainment and camping swinger parties around the circle of tents or something? Sort it out Mabledon....

Accidents waiting to happen....

The lack of a pelican crossing at the top of Quarry Hill, near the bus stops, where countless school children cross a busy road every day is an accident waiting to happen. There are probably many other examples (and please do post them as comments) but this is an urgent requirement. I sent an email about this matter to Councillor Godfrey Horne, the Tonbridge representative on Kent County Council around ten weeks ago and to date he has not even bothered to reply, let alone do anything about it. What's the cost of a crossing? About £30k apparently; what price a child's life?...

A Grandad, moi?...

I couldn't swear to this but I'm almost certain I heard the word "Grandad" when walking past a group of late teens girls this evening on my way home. Nothing wrong with that you may think, unless that is it was directed at me. Yes I'm almost certain that it probably was directed at me and however hard I try to blot it out with think bubbles like "...of course it wasn't she could have been talking to her friends about her own dear old Grandad.." or "...she said grand town (maybe refering to Tonbridge or somewhere else)..." However much I tried to think like that, it was there. She looked me in the face, like a cheeky so-and-so and uttered the words "..Hello Grandad." I briefly had a Robert Deniro moment, looked around and thought "...you, talking to me...well there's no one else here!.." but sure enough it was me she was talking to. I thought of the obvious quip of "Sod off fatty!" which would have been fair in the circumstances as she was rotund to say the least. But all I could manage was a half-hearted sarcastic smile, as if to say to her "My God that was witty!" What stopped me saying more? Well probably part shock, part doubt that she was refering to me and, not a small part, not wanting to be the victim of a Happy Slapping attack. Or in her case it would have been a Happy Slapper attack! It's alright I can say it now because she's now three miles away probably! If she's out there, I'm 44; so I suppose it is technically possible that I could be a Grandad, but God forbid, not just yet!...

The Cattle Market....

No, I'm not talking about the SOS discotheque (do we still use that word?) I'm talking about literally the old cattle and livestock market which used to be between Bank Street and the Slade. It became a rather tacky ordinary market for a while until Crest Nicholson recently developed it into a housing development. Having seen this steadily going up day by day, I have to say that Tonbridgeblog is rather impressed with the whole project. Yes there are a few things which could have been done better, such as the site access road-pedestrian hazzard and keeping the noise down at school kicking out time etc, but on the whole it seems to be a worthwhile addition to the town. Let's face it the site was pretty much derelict before, being used once a week as a market and the rest of the week as a cheap place to park for local office workers. I can sort of understand the NIMBY arguments and, if it were being built in my back yard maybe I would think diiferently, but make, no mistake, this is ten time better than what was there before, it enhances the town centre and it helps to stop the countryside from being churned up. Let's be honest what was there before really wasn't that great, now was it? I understand that the development is virtually sold out up to phase 2 and that Crest is seeking planning permission for the third phase, which will eventually link up with Lansdown Rd near the Ivy House traffic lights. This section is to include shops and offices within what was the old public hall/Capitol Cinema area. So let's let them finish the job off with minmal interuptions so that we can have the old part of town in some sort of decent shape again...

That's the wonder of good old Woollies....

In response to Hildenboroughblog's comment about garish marketing and point of sale material in Woolworth's on Tonbridge High Street.
The trouble with garish marketing is that the retailer sees it from a different perspective. Woollies and others like them want to shift products and aren't really that bothered about whether it appeals to us asthetically or not, so long as their sales go up. The Hilden Manor is another good example. Garish, almost motel like, signage on a twelveth century building which townsfolk know and love. Is the result that people are put off going there by this in-yer-face marketing? No, in fact quite the reverse. In short, they know their market. So what can we do about it? Apart from joining the Civic Society and going to planning meetings and local forums, I can't think of anything right now....(This was posted as a comment in reply to Hildenboroughblog's, but unfortunately I accidentally wiped some comments during a routine clear up on the blog control panel; if I have inadvertently blocked anyone then apologies in advance. (just set up a new account if you have to.) It's a shame that I have to do this but you should see some of the filth which doesn't make it onto the Tonbridgeblog. Even a hardened, ex national press man like myself is shocked by some of it....what do you mean can you see some of it?...certainly not!)

Le tour de France est non loin away maintenant, vraiment!

Thierry Gouvenou, régulateur, 7 Tours de France : « Après avoir quitté le cœur de Londres et déclenché les chronos au passage du Méridien de Greenwich, le peloton s’élancera à travers le Kent. Un parcours plat à la découverte de la campagne anglaise qui devrait favoriser les sprinters lancés à la conquête du maillot vert. »
This is a quote from the official Le Tour web site and, loosely translated, means "....flippin 'eck the Tour de France is coming to Tonbridge blummin soon!..." Let's all plan to go en fete, as ils parle in France. Let's think of long hot evenings en ete, parties, barbeques, cold lager and white wine, salades niceoise and other cuisine Francaise. Mon Franglez est il un little rustique je pense, malheuresement. Anyway in the meantime avez un regarde at the web site HERE You can read in in English also if you are feeling unadventurous, or unadventurous, as they say over the channel....

Shoppers of Tonbridge unite!...

This was originally intended as a reply to a comment on Shopping Centre by hildenboroughblog (see article below) but Tonbridge blog thought that it was good enough for a posting...
There could be room for a shopping centre, along the lines of Victoria Place in Tunbridge Wells, around the Angel area and smaller boutique type shops in the older part of town to the North of the Big Bridge. T Wells is similar with Camden Road and the High Street for smaller shops and Vic Place for the chain stores. It could work you know, it's only like it is now because it needs a kick start. Personally I believe that the process is already in motion since Waitrose and Monsoon came to the town. The rest will take time, but there are some good signs with the likes of Silvermans Jewellers, Cycle ops, Jessops, Kent Lighting, Antonia's restaurant, Bionic Records, WH Smith Stationers and others. Shoppers in the town could help out by shopping in Tonbridge whenever they can instead of buying on the internet so much, or going for the cushy option of the indoor shopping centre. Once it establishes momentum, a reputation will follow, then it's an upward spiral. This all takes time, but we will get there. There's optimism for you!...

Please Sir, when's the next book fair?...

Here's one for you.....Who played Frankie Abbott in the popular sixties (or was it 1970's) comedy classic Please Sir?...
Answer: David Barry, who is now involved in theatre production and is also an author. Tonbridge blog has learnt that he will be at the West Kent Book Fair in Old Big School hall, Tonbridge School (and, no doubt, getting detention!) on Sunday April 1st from 9-30am to 4pm. Actually Frankie David was an accomplished child actor, who toured with the likes of Larry Olivier. He will be signing copies of his new book, Flashback, an Actor's Life, at the event. (Although you should be warned that he does look quite a bit diffent these days!) See the organiser's web site www.mrbooks.co.uk for details about the fair...

What did he turn round and say?...

There's this customer in my shop, right, who, sort of like, uses this, you know, odd little, kind of like, phrase to, are you following my meaning, like, to fill in between pauses in, er, you know, conversation. This is straight up, no word of a lie, gen, I promise you. Some thing like this, although only really he can do it:
"...So anyway, like I turned round and said, she was havin' a bit of a laugh...she turned round and she said to me....so I turned round and said.....and she's only turned round and said this...." I've never heard this before, and after a while I become so amused by the use of this phrase that I turn round and lose the thread of the conversation and just wait for the next "...turn round and said...."
I do wonder if he realises he even turns round and says it! (It's really quite contagious you know) I realise that I'm sort of betraying a loyal customer, who will probably become an ex-customer if he ever reads this article but this has fascinated me. Not being originally a Kentish Man, or a Man of Kent for that matter, I wonder if this is some obscure colloquialism....

Kelly's got a double gold web site!...

Well it had to happen didn't it. I've finally gone and done a piece on our very own Dame Kelly. What community based web site would be complete without it? Lets face it the local papers don't need much of an excuse to give her a mention, so why should Tonbridge blog be any different! Regular commenter on this site, hildenboroughblog (what a ridiculous blog name!) brought Kelly's official website to my attention and so I took a butcher's at it. It's actually quite impressive and probably professionally produced, unless our Kelly is a computer whiz kid as well, and there's only a little bit of a shopping page selling her books and stuff. Some of the gallery pics are worth a look if you are an athletics fan. Take a look for yourself HERE

Reallygreattonbridge.com....welovetonbridge.org....

Whataflippinmarveloustowntonbridgeis.com
I don't know about you, but I can't help thinking that there a few too many of these so called community websites jumping on the band wagon. Often, whilst they claim to be community sites, they are nothing more than nationally or regionally run with no other purpose than to lift money out of small businesses and retailers. thebestof tonbridge seems to be one such example with nice looking pages but very little substance in Tonbridge blog's opinion. It's really just "the best of" brand, after which you could put the name of any town. The Tonbridge.com seems a little more in tune with the local community, but, once again, they seem to make no secret of being, basically, an ad-get site. This site is a bit harder on the eye than the best of... with lots of flashing lights and things popping out at you, but you do get the feeling that whoever produces it does at least know the area. At the end of the day they are really just the modern equivalent of those free sheets, full of inserts, which take you about ten seconds to read before you chuck it on the recycling pile. It's a shame that there isn't a virtual recycling pile for some of these efforts. You see, at the end of the day, you just can't beat content. Readers and viewers aren't fools, if there is no useful. up-to-date information and a mix of local pictures, comment and stories they will, quite literally, switch off. Are there any better ones, or worse for that matter out there....

The state of the book trade....

Are bookshops in terminal decline? This is the question posed on the excellent web site for book lovers, The Book Guide. You can read the article and the comments HERE and below is Mark Richardson's, of MR. Books, Bank Street, response in full:

"I opened my bookshop, MR. Books in Tonbridge, almost two years ago so either I'm just plain crazy or I have gambled on there being life in this business ours yet. For me personally the bookshop is partly a lifestyle change, so the idea of sitting behind a computer screen all day, everyday, having little direct contact with customers and mailing out books just doesn't appeal. Obviously the internet is a very important part of our trade, there will be no getting away from that, but it can also be a showcase to advertise books in the shop which customers can come and view for themselves. As for bookshops closing down, as has been commented already, it was ever thus. A customer has recently sent me a picture from about the 1960's of a bookshop two doors way from where mine is now, a building which has since been demolished; I have also seen an advertisement in a 1950 guide to the town with one just around the corner, which I understand closed down around about the same time. Businesses come and go but there is no doubt that the nature of ours is definitely changing, even a relative new boy like me has noticed this. It is a struggle at times but, let's face it, there are a lot worse ways to not earn a living!...

Mark Richardson
Owner of MR. Books
Tonbridge, Kent
www.mrbooks.co.uk

Ghosts of the old Workhouse....

Now for those of you who don't know it the old tall building which confronts you when you drive down Castle Street and on to the Bank Street/Slade junction used to be Bank Street school, which closed in the 1960s, becoming Woodland Junior School. Many years before that it was the local Poor House. In fact Back Lane (Bank Street) as it was then officially called, was known by the locals as Workhouse Lane. Now, I'm given to understand, that these were harsh environments at the best best of times; so the building was almost certainly the scene of untimely deaths, probably hundreds of them over the course of its history. Now, I'll start by saying that I am a real sceptic when it comes to ghost stories and the paranormal. However, to my surprise, I have heard from very reliable sources that there have been some wierd goings on in the building, which is currently being renovated for Warners Solicitors before they move their whole operation into there shortly. I'm talking about feeling of presences, things moving around, lights going on and off etc. Ok, all of these things may or may not be explainable but it still sent a shiver down my spine, especially since the only people who are in there at the moment are burly builders and the like, who probably don't scare easily....

The new look Hilden Manor....

I've been meaning to go to the Hilden Manor ever since it reopened after its tragic destruction by fire two years ago. It's incredible what they have done there; you'd have thought for all the world that they would have given up and built a modern estate there or something. All credit to the architects and construction team who have managed to pull it off. So off I went then on a rainy Sunday (today) to experience and appreciate their work. The outside looks incredible, an improvement in fact. They've made better use of the car park area with the new hotel facilities. However (and you must have known that there'd be a however!) the inside is absolutely awful; its just another Beefeater steakhouse with benches where there should be tables and a serve 'em quick and get 'em out type approach to Sunday lunch. To be fair the food was adequate, but that's all. I had roast beef and yorkshire pub, which you would have thought they would have got spot on. It was ok, but a really small portion of beef and virtually raw carrots. The chicken roasts, which my kids had, were somewhat larger and the sticky toffee pudding was pretty good. Our waitress, Emma I think, was very attentive and helpful, if a little rushed and did sort out the raw carrots without any fuss (although I suspect they came back having been blitzed in the microwave) so I still left her a three quid tip, which was generous enough for an average meal. As I said I had been looking forward to trying it out, but I came out thinking that it could have been so much better in that amazing building. Why didn't they build something really special there instead of short changing customers with a restaurant which is only a couple of notches up from a McDonald's....

A Bomb scare....well they kept that one quiet....

Tonbridgeblog did hear a rumour that there was some sort of incident involving the police the other day on the High Street. Turns out, according to some sources that there was a suspect package in KFC. No not the bargain bucket! In fact it turned out to be that someone had left a projector on a seat in there. The police and bomb crew were called in, while, apparently, people continued to walk by oblivious to the potential danger. I've heard of Kentucky fried mouse, but Kentucky fried semtax is a new one!! Anyone else hear anything?...

Boot fairs don't belong indoors....

I've just had a little trip out to Arthur's Friendly Boot Fair in the village hall at Three Dead Oaks Green. Why? Well I'm not sure quite what motivated me, boredom probably. Friendly? Yes it was; but I'm afraid it was sparse and pretty dead. It's always the same, unless you get up at the crack of dawn, all the half decent stuff has gone. Indoor boot fairs, for me, basically don't work. Number one: you can't drive a car into a village hall so in essence it's just not the same. Secondly, just because it's inside, some how the sellers think that they can charge five times as much for the same old tut. Thirdly, you usually have either an embarrassing silence in the room or else there's some really out of date record playing; like at today's it was "There's a new dance that is going around, called the bump...." Now that tune is stuck in my head for the next three days! And fourthly, er...that's it..... Roll on the spring for the rain soaked outdoor boot fair season....

Bloody buses down bleedin' Bank Street....

Today I witnessed the battle of Bank Street. We had car horns honking, people shouting and swearing at a disabled driver, irate bus drivers trying to squeeze buses through a tiny gap (and failing!) shopkeepers and postmen bouncing a car which was obstructing the traffic. What was the cause of all this mayhem? Wait for it.... an elderly disabled driver of the car, mentioned above, had left his vehicle parked near the corn exchange building while he went to get some tablets from the nearby chemists. He was gone for all of about 7 minutes! The bus driver, apparently so afraid to be behind on his Ariva-in-time bus schedule, that he lost all sense of proportion and instead of waiting (which clearly was the only sensible thing to do in the circumstances) moved things out of the way on the pavement, called for the car to be bounced out of the way by passers by, and then rather unskilfully managed to take off a panel from the bottom of the bus side, smashing a stone step in the process and nearly smash in the back door of the jewellery shop as the panel went flying. The damage done to the step of this shop are proof enough that you don't want to get in the way of these beasts (the buses that is, not the drivers!) We then had the scene with some young Rambo wannabe effing and blinding at the bus driver as he wrote down the details of the car driver. It's a wonder that no puches were thrown as the air became more testosterone filled with every passing second. Are we so busy these days that we can't just see the funny side and take a breather for a few minutes; are we so bent on achieving the targets of out of touch and more and more distant employers, who just don't listen to excuses. Can we not just slow down a bit, not get so worked up and spare a thought for the old bloke whose only crime was that he just happened to nip out to the pharmacy with his prescription on the wrong day at the wrong time. In any case Bank Street really is wholely inappropriate for the purpose of turning round single, let alone double decker, buses so some of the blame for this incident must rest with the council (Kent or TMBC, I'm not sure which one, and there lies another problem.) I'm not sure what the alternative is but there must be a better one than the narrow streets of the old market area. Still it will be an interesting one for the insurance companies to sort out....

Underground passages from the Castle to the Priory: Fact or fable?...

Tonbridge blog became a little obsessed with this idea having read the wonderful old book called Tonbridge Legends, written in about 1890, by an anonymous author. The thought has been hanging around somewhere in the back of my mind, but had pretty much remained lurking there for a year or so. Until I acquired an even older, and very scarce book, The Tunbridge Wells Guide, an Account of the Ancient and Present State of the Place by J. Sprange, 1814. This book talks briefly about each of surrounding towns and villages and the birth of the Wells. In the section on Tonbridge, or Tunbridge as it was correctly named then, it mentions the founding of the Priory at Tonbridge which, if you don't know stood roughly between where the Sainsbury's petrol station is now situated and the railway tracks (nothing like respecting our ancient historic building heritage eh!) I'll quote from Sprange's excellent guide:
"It is said that there was a subterraneous passage carried under the bed of the river, from this priory to the castle, in order to supply the garrison with necessaries in time of distress; but I can find no warrant for this report, except the uncertain voice of tradition."
Now granted that is by no means conclusive evidence of very much; except it confirms that the writer of Tonbridge Legends must have got the story from somewhere, therefore he didn't just make it up because it made good reading. There must somewhere be other written anecdotes, tales or maybe even facts about their existence. We may never know any more hard facts after so much time has passed, but it would be interesting to delve deeper....

More Greenwash?...

The Olympics in 2012 are in London. We all know that. So it's great to see that Lord Seb Coe, of I'm not sure what, is backing the sustainable energy green policies which the Government are trying to encourage and enforce by 2016. The aim is to make all homes carbon neutral, whatever that is, by that date. But are they doing enough? You can read the report on the Grauniad's web site HERE for fuller details of what they are up to and what the Green Party think of it. The general opinion seems to be that it is great that they are doing something, but they want to see much more. That seems to always be the way doesn't it because, obviously, many of these high profile projects have good intentions and want to be seen to be doing the right thing for the environment; but when they see the quotes for using the ethical, if that's the right word, materials they do a double take and then financial reality kicks in. Surely though this project, the Olympics, is the great exception; we simply have to not only be seen to get this right but to gather momentum and, if necessary go completely over the top to set an example to the world of what can be done with the right will. Maybe then smaller projects would follow suit, not wanting to be left behind, or at least because social pressure would make it too embarasing for them . On a more local scale there are large projects in our own back yard which could and should be setting an example to us all. The Tonbridge School Swimming Pool and sports complex, a £10 million building, is doing some but no where near enough; and the Harvester Tower, with huge financial backing from the States, would seem to be hardly scratching the green paint off the surface. Why not? Because it would take about 35 years to make back the money that they would save in energy bills that's why? Simple economics. But is that good enough? I certainly don't think so...

Greenwash! Environment update....

Before we all become too Greener than Thou let's keep all this in perspective. It matters what we all do in the long term, week in week out, not what superficial gestures we make to display our greeness because it's the in thing. Tony Parson's of the Daily Mirror (Don't let that put you off reading him!) as usual shoots straight from the hip in this wonderful piece on the Mirror web site. Read it HERE....

Big Brother, Big Snooze....

I was up quite late last night reading and had left the TV on, as I often do, half watching it but mainly reading. Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is really interesting and absorbing stuff; however I'm afraid that what was showing on the telly most definitely was not. In fact I was distracted from Bryson's excellent book by the sheer mundanity of what was showing. It was sensationally bad TV, almost to the point of being interesting for that fact alone, if you follow me. I saw two attractive women, apparently they were celebrities, bitching to each other in whispered tones about not very much while drinking their coco, then they brushed their teeth together and, do you know what they did next? well then they got into bed. Now, as if that wasn't dull enough, the cameras then stayed on them while they lay in bed restless, tossed and turned a bit, whispered a bit more and then, presumably eventually went to sleep. I just had to turn it off; it wasn't just boring, it was annoyingly so, frustratingly awful. I wanted to put my head inside the TV set and yell at the programme makers to do something about it, to make it interesting. You see Celebrity Big Brother is only very marginally less dull than the real Big Brother because, celebrities or not (and that's debatable in most cases) they are just people at the end of the day. They still have boring days and quiet periods; they still have to eat, crap and piss like the rest of us do. There's no wonder that this business with Shilpa Shetty, or "Shipla" as Jade Goody so malapropistically keeps calling her, is causing such a stir. The rest of it is so deadly dull; frankly I'd rather watch a firm of chartered accountants at work than this turgid garbage. If this is what we paid our license fee for I would be demanding my money back and a thousand pounds compensation on top. Just as well it isn't then! Big Brother has had it's day Channel 4; it's time to move on and stop milking it till the last viewer is still sitting up at 2am, glazed eyed and probably in a coma. Anyway back to my Bill Bryson book....

An Inconvenient Truth, A Global Warning....

This documentary film by nearly President of the USA, Al Gore, is an absolute must watch for anyone who is remotely interested in the future of the planet we all share. In essence it is a lecture and presentation interspersed with film clips and cartoon asides which help keep up the interest level. It is thought provoking, witty, non-sensationalist and yet gripping due to the enormity of the crisis we all face. He points out that this is not something off in the distant future, Global Warming is happening right now and is set to effect us all very dramatically with the next 50 to 70 years unless we act now. That is possibly within my lifetime and certainly within my children's. So it bothers me very much. He compares the scepticism with that which the anti smoking lobby faced 30 or 40 years ago, when their arguments were dismissed as having no conclusive proof. Look what has happened to smokers and the cigarette industry nowadays; they are increasingly becoming the outcasts of society. The evidence for global warming being a serious problem for the world is overwhelming and yet the few dissenters to this view, usually those with a vested interest, are often the ones which most people listen to. Why? Because it is more convenient to do nothing than to do something. More convenient to drive to work than cycle, walk or catch a bus; more convenient to leave the TV on standby and the lights switched on around the house. It's nicer to have a big car, aircon and a plasma screen TV. Scientists who have pointed out this inconvenient truth, have in the past, in America at least, been shunned, sacked and unable to find employment because they had the balls to speak out. Watch this film and it will probably make you think harder about the subject. You may even do something about your own habits, even if it is inconvenient....

Hold the front page Policeman seen walking in Tonbridge High St....

I know it shouldn't be anything sensational, but you see so few police actually on the beat these days that I thought this should be front page news in the local rag. I'm not just being flippant either, this is a serious problem nation wide; it beggars belief that this is only just beginning to be sorted out 25 years after I learn about it in Sociology classes. Do the police ever read reports by academics or listen to the advice of people who have known for decades, that you cannot simply rely on new close circuit TV technology and fast cars. There has never been, nor ever will be a substitute for human beings forming relations with the local community and getting to know all the nooks crannies of their patch....

Enjoy your Crappy Meal and have a nice day!...

My nine year old daughter cracked a good joke yesterday. I decided to give the kids a treat and take them bowling in Tunbridge Wells, (I got 5 strikes but that's another story!) then on the spur of the moment, and because it was lunch time, I thought that I'd treat them to a meal in the Bowlplex restaurant. Well we were there, the pictures made the food look really tasty and it was only a little more expensive than going to the Macdonalds down the road. The pictures turned out to be all lies! The tables were dirty, there weren't enough staff around to ask to clean them, let alone for them to actually clean them, the food took an age to arrive (at least 25 minutes anyway) and when it did, after I'd complained about the lack of service, mine was at best luke warm and tasteless. To cap it all there was no tomato ketchup (in a burger bar for God's sake!!) The mayo was an extra 15p per sachet; allright it's not that much but each excuse for a meal was nearly a fiver anyway. I tried to put a brave face on it so as not to ruin the kid's last day of the Christmas break but it was my daughter's comment which said it all (and made me laugh out loud) She said "Dad they should rename these meals, instead of Happy Meal, it should be Crappy Meal!...

Merry Christmas....

Merry Christmas, Ho, Ho, Ho and all that to all Tonbridge bloggers. Have a good 'un....

In case of TBlog being down.....

Use this as an alternative or buy a newspaper and wait for a week until TonbridgeBlog is back up or you could maybe take a walk, go for a week's holiday or perhaps talk to your husband, boyfriend, wife or girlfriend instead of sitting clicking away on a sodding computer all day and all evening long!...

So long Courier....

Welcome everyone to Alternative Tonbridge blog. It seems that my mentioning T blog in my Courier coloumn this week has caused the site to temporarily crash due to it having "exceeded its bandwidth" whatever that means. Actually I've come to the conclusion that it means the site administrators (123-reg) get more money if they send that message up every so often. I've already topped up the meter this month so they're not having any more! Why have I stopped writing my column in the Courier? Quite simply they were taking the Micky Bliss; they sent out a general letter to all us community correspondents saying that they are no longer going to pay us but that they wanted us to carry on writing the column anyway in the form of a blog and then they would choose the best bits for the weekly bit in the paper. Well guess what Courier? I'm already blogging and I beat you to it by two and a half years. In any case yours will probably be highly censored and not really reflective of the views of the good people of the town. Oh and they also wanted us to sell advertising to local businesses on their behalf to go along side the blog and we could keep the revenue from that. I'm afraid that I'm not the only one who has been outraged by this suggestion. If you look carefully at the end of the community columns this week you'll see that many of the long standing columnists have mysteriously decided that now is the time to jack it in. They include Philip Codd of Bidborough and Geoff Watts, Hildenbourough, both of whom have been putting their columns together tirelessly and faithfully for the last 13 or 14 years. I'm a mere novice with only 4 years under my belt! It beggars belief that they think that just because as they said in their letter to us that "...in responding to our recent survey, many of you told us that money was not your motivation for becoming a community correspondent...." Of cause it wasn't YOU WERE PAYING US TEN QUID A WEEK, what the hell did you expect the response to that question to be. But that doesn't mean that we'd be happier with nothing does it! The money isn't that important to me, but I suspect that for a few of them the £500 a year might pay for Christmas or even the family holiday. So I've decided not to write it anymore on principle. By the way what about the people, like me, who didn't fill out a questionaire and what about those people, like Mr Codd of Bidborough, who I happen to know (cos he told me) said that money WAS the most important reason. I suspect that they'll be very few local columns in next week's newspaper, let's wait and see. As the man at the end of each failed Dragons Den pitch might say "Good luck with that Courier!"

Pop ups at the West Kent Book Fair in Tonbridge last weekend...

Thanks Clive Sayer for letting us all see these amazing pop up books....

PORC clips....

Here's a selection of video clicks from my day at PORC, that's Penshurst Off Road Cycling, some amazing stunts:
First this...

Then this...

And this...

These were just the ones I managed to capture on my camera phone. Go there if you want to see some quite incredible stuff....