new
nov04 Has
anyone else noticed the absurdity of holding the
Oyster Festival right smack-bang in the middle
of the one season without an “r” in
the month? - As everyone knows,
the Natives are out of season during this period – this
being their breeding season – and, in fact,
aren’t at their best until November. They
are specifically protected by statute during this
time. Consequently we have the peculiar phenomenon
of a Whitstable Oyster Festival in which Whitstable
Native oysters aren’t available. There must
be a reason for this. Can anyone tell me?
new
nov04 Some
more observations on the word “chav” -
Did anyone see the Evening Standard on the 11th of
August? There was a whole article on the chav phenomenon,
focussing particularly on the Gypsy-born singer,
Jentina Rose, who sees herself as a bit of a chav,
apparently.
new
nov04 One
of the banes of being on the internet -
One of the banes of being on the internet is the
proliferation of begging letters and dubious offers
of money in exchange for financial services.
new
aug04
- Blue
Tooth. These days we seem to be
under the quaint illusion that the progress of
civilisation is the same as technological innovation.
- Cannabis. By
the time you read this cannabis will have been reclassified
as a class C drug.
- Eight
Billion Pounds. I was pleased
to hear that HSBC took home profits of £7.7
billion last year.
- Asylum
Seekers. “The way
asylum-seekers are pouring in from every
port in this country is becoming an outrage... ”
- Patriotism. I
seem to be drowning in a sea of St. George's flags.
They're everywhere.
- National
Health Service. I’m proud
that we’ve got a National Health Service.
I’m not so proud of what it is likely
to become.
- White
Lightning Cider. I think that
cannabis should be legal, and that heroin should
be treated as a medical rather than a criminal
problem.
- Tommy
Cooper. You don’t
normally think of Tony Blair as a latter-day
Tommy Cooper, do you? Nevertheless he managed
to make me laugh this week.
- That’s
it doc! So that’s it. Now
I know it’s true. The world has gone
utterly, uncontrollably, stark, raving bonkers.
- Time. I’ve
been thinking about time. That’s because they’ve
just put the clocks forward again.
- Yobs. Yobs
are everywhere, it seems. Unfortunately it appears
to be one of the phenomena of our times.
new
- aug04 Has
anyone else noticed the absurdity of holding
the Oyster Festival right smack-bang in the
middle of the one season without an “r” in
the month? - As everyone
knows, the Natives are out of season during
this period – this
being their breeding season – and, in
fact, aren’t at their best until November.
WHITSTABLE
TIMES WAR STORIES 2001-2002.
Big
Blockade (February 01)
Refugees (August 01)
Spinning for War (October 01)
WAWA (25/10/01)
Public Money (29/11/01)
Christmas in the Trenches (27/12/01)
Poverty (04/04/02)
Maureen (30/05/02)
Asylum Seekers (27/06/02)
War on Iraq (3/10/02)
What
a Convenience - Forbuoys has closed
down, as I'm sure most of you are aware. I was
in town on the day. There were two large white
vans parked across the shop-front, nose-to-nose
like a barrier, and inside the shop was dark
and forlorn-looking. Sad. It seemed like the end
of an era, somehow.
You
will have indulged and suffered the consequences, no doubt.
- You will have overdosed on TV
movies and distant relations, on alcohol, on food, on party
crackers and silly hats, on loud renditions of I Wish It
Could Be Christmas Every Day by Wizzard, or any of the other
numerous ‘70s Christmas hits.
Whitstable
is unique. -
That’s why we all live here.
I
had a most interesting journey
not so long ago, travelling down from Victoria by
rail. I’d been visiting a friend, and just before the journey
we’d stopped off at the pub for a couple of pints.
Well three, to be exact. So you can imagine my delight
when I got on the train to discover that all the toilets
were locked.
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