Sunday, October 25, 2009
A Tale of Two Cathedral Cities.
Exam questions would often require you to "compare and contrast" things up for discussion.
Today I have been comparing and contrasting 2 cathedral cities - Canterbury and Chichester.
We had a somewhat unsatisfactory visit to Canterbury during our Kent holiday and today we have been in Chichester.
Today the weather has been lovely and we looked forward to bargain hunting and enjoying our surroundings.
The first car boot sale of the day was at Fontwell......and we found nothing!
I don't mean that nothing was there, but amongst the very busy stalls we found nothing but tat. Shame! That is always so deflating.
We drove into Bognor - without great optimism about the little car boot sale there. We left that one also with absolutely nothing!
We decided to drive straight into Chichester and get the car parked in the market place well before the car boot sale started.
We had breakfast at The Dolphin - a Wetherspoons place. When Wetherspoons get things right they are very good. I had a normal (quite large) breakfast for £2.69. Bill had the huge breakfast for only £1.20 more than that.
Then we walked around the cathedral - not in, because at that time on a Sunday morning a service is on; but we could hear music from within.
Now, walking freely around the cathedral at Canterbury was not an option.
The Chichester car boot sale was excessively crowded and my first time round the stalls with my shopping trolley was difficult.
But at least we found just a little - not much it is true.
I found a Glyn Colledge bowl. He was a potter for Denby and his work is much admired and collected - and the quality stands out. I saw it across the aisle and realised that it was the only bit of quality I was likely to see today.
Now back to the cathedrals?
What was wrong with Canterbury you may wonder.
We just felt that Canterbury has become a bit of a theme park. Pay your money and grab the Canterbury history experience.
We had been there before and, in the past, were able to walk around the cathedral and walls without restriction.
Now, the hordes of visitors had just one access through to the cathedral precinct and to pass through, money had to be handed over.
Now I am not against cathedrals collecting money for their upkeep - for it requires a great deal to keep these beautiful historical buildings in good condition.
But it does not sit well with what a cathedral is actually for - and to have to pay to walk around part of the town does seem wrong.
Maybe we are too tight-fisted - but £15 for a couple to visit the cathedral precinct and building did seem to be over the top.
We didn't pay it and felt happy to get away from the whole experience.
Look! A glimpse of the cathedral over a wall.
Such glimpses were rare indeed - unless you paid your money.
This is the gateway all the paying tourists go through.
Here is a postcard of the cathedral - and yes, it is special.
Statue of St Richard in the cloisters.
Buildings in the precinct.
Archway from the cloisters out into the street.
The market cross - from outside the cathedral.
Cottage door and window.
Cottages with the cathedral beyond.
Postcard of the cathedral.
It is a beautiful building in a lovely city with a true heart.
Today I have been comparing and contrasting 2 cathedral cities - Canterbury and Chichester.
We had a somewhat unsatisfactory visit to Canterbury during our Kent holiday and today we have been in Chichester.
Today the weather has been lovely and we looked forward to bargain hunting and enjoying our surroundings.
The first car boot sale of the day was at Fontwell......and we found nothing!
I don't mean that nothing was there, but amongst the very busy stalls we found nothing but tat. Shame! That is always so deflating.
We drove into Bognor - without great optimism about the little car boot sale there. We left that one also with absolutely nothing!
We decided to drive straight into Chichester and get the car parked in the market place well before the car boot sale started.
We had breakfast at The Dolphin - a Wetherspoons place. When Wetherspoons get things right they are very good. I had a normal (quite large) breakfast for £2.69. Bill had the huge breakfast for only £1.20 more than that.
Then we walked around the cathedral - not in, because at that time on a Sunday morning a service is on; but we could hear music from within.
Now, walking freely around the cathedral at Canterbury was not an option.
The Chichester car boot sale was excessively crowded and my first time round the stalls with my shopping trolley was difficult.
But at least we found just a little - not much it is true.
I found a Glyn Colledge bowl. He was a potter for Denby and his work is much admired and collected - and the quality stands out. I saw it across the aisle and realised that it was the only bit of quality I was likely to see today.
Now back to the cathedrals?
What was wrong with Canterbury you may wonder.
We just felt that Canterbury has become a bit of a theme park. Pay your money and grab the Canterbury history experience.
We had been there before and, in the past, were able to walk around the cathedral and walls without restriction.
Now, the hordes of visitors had just one access through to the cathedral precinct and to pass through, money had to be handed over.
Now I am not against cathedrals collecting money for their upkeep - for it requires a great deal to keep these beautiful historical buildings in good condition.
But it does not sit well with what a cathedral is actually for - and to have to pay to walk around part of the town does seem wrong.
Maybe we are too tight-fisted - but £15 for a couple to visit the cathedral precinct and building did seem to be over the top.
We didn't pay it and felt happy to get away from the whole experience.
Look! A glimpse of the cathedral over a wall.
Such glimpses were rare indeed - unless you paid your money.
This is the gateway all the paying tourists go through.
Here is a postcard of the cathedral - and yes, it is special.
A quirky building we passed on our way into the centre.
Chichester is just so different.
The cathedral is central to the life of the town.
Everybody is free to walk into the precinct, all around the cathedral and through the cloisters.
It is free to enter the cathedral itself - but of course we didn't today, for we wouldn't want to intrude on what a cathedral is really for.
I would happily leave a small donation towards the upkeep of the Sussex spiritual centre.
We have at other times walked on the city walls and explore the Bishop's Palace Garden.
Statue of St Richard in the cloisters.
Buildings in the precinct.
Archway from the cloisters out into the street.
The market cross - from outside the cathedral.
Cottage door and window.
Cottages with the cathedral beyond.
Postcard of the cathedral.
It is a beautiful building in a lovely city with a true heart.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Dull Saturday and a trip to Broadstairs.
There is little to say about today.
I feel tired and queasy.
That might be because I had a disturbed night - didn't sleep much and then got up with Roger and Sue and had a cup of tea at 5 o'clock.
The rain was setting in, so we went back to bed.
I may also be suffering some side effects from the anti depressant I have been offered to try and counteract seasonal depression. I began on Wednesday and so far have not noticed problems, but I was warned that there could be some for a while.
The rain has now stopped and the skies are blue with white fluffy clouds scudding by in the breeze.
Tomorrow promises to be a good day and we will enjoy a day out with some car boot sales.
And now, back to Broadstairs.
Broadstairs is a pretty little seaside town built on the hill overlooking Viking Bay.
Charles Dickens was a very regular visitor and with the coming of the railways, visitor numbers increased.
We didn't explore the town itself.
The main street was being dug up and all traffic diverted.
There is a jetty to one side of the bay with a fish and chip cafe at the end - more of that in a moment.
There is a jetty to one side of the bay with a fish and chip cafe at the end - more of that in a moment.
The sandy beach is wide, flat and safe and in the summer attracts holiday makers.
The ship on the horizon was probably heading for Dover.
No, that's not fish and chips exactly.
Though we did have some chips too.
I do think that holidays are a good opportunity for new experiences.
Many people feel that a trip to the seaside is not complete without some shell fish. Bill and I had never tried them - except mussels, which we had last year on the Isle of Wight.
The seafood platter to serve 2 was £6.50 and I thought was a golden opportunity to venture into a new culinary experience.
Our main comment was that it was all too vinegary.
I liked the cockles, mussels and prawns which were not prepared in vinegar and had a delicate sweetness to them.
But the vinegar of the whelks and rollmop herrings seeped into everything.
And whelks? You can keep them! They were chewy and leathery.
The seagulls liked them and didn't seem to mind the vinegar. Pigeons declined them.
We did climb up to the higher part of the town above the bay.
We did climb up to the higher part of the town above the bay.
The facades of the houses were adorned with elegant balconies and windows.
Much was made of the Charles Dickens connection.
There is a museum within one of these buildings.
And this is Bleak House. It was not called that when Dickens lived there - it was Fort House.
But later somebody assumed that this was the Bleak House of the book.
Now I must confess that despite Bleak House being one of the set books for my A Level English course, I have never read it from cover to cover.
Aged 16 /17 I though it incredibly boring and my mind was turned from Dickens for life - well, probably. I have no real urges to pick up a Dickens novel, even now.
And yes - I did fail A level English!
I have not read Barnaby Rudge either
Bill and I are always seeing the same photographs in our minds and rush to get the prime position to capture an image within our cameras.
As we licked our ice creams, whilst sitting on a bench overlooking the bay, we saw the chimneys.
Just for once I feel sure that I captured the stronger image - though I won't tell you which is which.
Next time we can be found in Sandwich.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Preparations for visitors and our visit to Botany Bay
I am sorting out my blog today long before the main event of the day.
But that will keep me busy.
Roger and Sue will be here for a meal a bit later and will spend the night here before setting off for their October holiday at a cottage in France.
Bill and I have been out and "killed the fatted" calf for them. Well, at least we have shopped for food. I think it was the first big shop for about 3 weeks.
I decided to go to Waitrose. I used to shop their every week and took Dad with me.
But when money is tight, perhaps Waitrose is not a place to be.
But whilst we were away I resolved that I would like to look for quality to feed ourselves with.
I popped into Waitrose at Dorking on Monday.
I am ashamed to admit that I felt good to be there - I was showing the world that I was just the sort of person who chooses to shop at Waitrose!
Today, though we went from the sublime to ....... well, Lidl!
Weather is fine today - even have doors and windows open.
Shame that we expect some rain overnight and through tomorrow.
Roger and Sue will be up and away at some very early hour and we would like to be away to the Ford car boot sale.
Maybe we will have to change plans.
And now to Botany Bay - Kent.
This is the most northerly of the bays deemed to belong within Broadstairs.
Basically it faces east.
We had to drive through a maze of streets in Margate and Cliftonville to find it - Bill must have wondered why I thought it worthwhile!
The picture explains it all.
The sun was shining the white cliffs were gleaming and the chalk stacks were magnificent.
We were lucky to have been there at low tide. At high tide there would have been no chance to walk round to the next bay - Kingsgate Bay.
There was lots of shipping - heading maybe for Tilbury.
One old man, walking his dog, told us that he had seen 39 ships from the cliffs one morning.
There were lots of caves.
There were lots of caves.
And there was an arch in the cliffs too.
As we rounded the cliffs into Kingsgate Bay we saw an imposing castle on the cliffs at the far end of the bay.
So we climbed up to explore - maybe even visit.
The best we could do was stand at the gateway and peer in.
It is now a private residence - broken up into large flats.
We met a resident at the gate, who had been out in the woods with his dog. He told us all about life there.
The castle had been built in the 1760s - so an ornamental castle really and not for defence.
Our man and his wife have a first floor flat in the wing on the left - overlooking Kingsgate Bay.
Thats a bit like their view.
We stopped for a drink at The Captain Digby and sat outside, enjoying the view
It looks like I am hanging on for dear life - but there was a mighty drop down the cliffs on the other side of that fence. I am not good with heights.
We walked back along the cliff top.
Farewell Botany Bay!
Next stop Broadstairs.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Dorking and Tankerton
Today I have been in the shop the whole time - but I could see that the weather outside was not too bad - far from the torrential rains reported from Wiltshire.
This week a pattern seems to have emerged in Pilgrims of there being poor business in the morning and then the afternoons flying by with lots to do.
I spent quite a lot of time in my own area - pottering and re - pricing, whilst Bill and Jill dealt with things at the desk.
Jill is like a mother hen caring for her favourite chick - that chick being Pilgrims Antiques.
She contributes quite a lot financially - providing carrier bags and bubble wrap.
She can't quite understand that others seem to have less commitment and less thought about how to keep the shop successful.
But she obviously thinks now that Bill and I can be trusted to have the shop's best interests at heart.
Roger mentioned the postal strike in his email - we have been talking about it too. Jill's husband was a Royal Mail employee and can remember being on strike for 6 weeks in the early 1980s. Clearly, for him, management is very much at fault.
A postman's comments I heard yesterday were of frustration - but of not actually thinking a strike was the best policy.
I fear that this strike and the union members have who voted for it are being somewhat orchestrated by a combination of union leadership, management and the government/ Peter Mandelson.
There was a cartoon in the paper...... 2 workers chatting.
There was a cartoon in the paper...... 2 workers chatting.
"I don't really think of it as a national strike, but rather as assisted suicide"
And later we have that BNP man on mainstream TV Question Time.
He is already boasting that the publicity has done his party some good.
I fear that if demonstrators get out of hand this will play further to the BNP advantage.
Supporters who vote for the BNP do not look very far past a few ideas that they think they agree with - just as I guess voters in Germany did in 1933.
Enough of politics - hope I haven't raised any hackles anywhere.
Lets go to Tankerton.
This is a small and gentle sea side resort between Whitstable and Herne Bay.
It is noted for its beach huts and its street.
We British do love our beach huts.
Rows of them stand on the grassy slopes above the beach.
119 - our own number - was one of the very few to look a little shabby.
Number 67 was very well looked after.
This is a view over the beach hut roofs to the street.
The tide was already well in and much of the street was already covered when we were there.
It is a long spit of raised land that sticks out into the sea at right angles to the shore, with waves rolling in on either side.
This post card shows just how far out the street stretches.
This post card shows just how far out the street stretches.
The street when we were there was not as long as in the postcard above - but you can see that I walked a goodly distance from Bill who was taking the photo.
I would love to go back and walk out a really long way at low tide.
Looking back from the street to Tankerton slopes with all the beach huts and the buildings above.
Tankerton beach with brightly coloured lifeguards' hut.
Just look at the wonderful blue sky.
We climbed back up Tankerton slopes.
I liked seeing the chimneys just showing on the brow of the hill.
Tomorrow I will take you to Botany Bay.
A bit far, you might think.
But no - not Australia of course, but the east coast of Kent.
