Gallivanting in the Garden........

[cliffanger]

of England that is!

We aimed to set off at 9.30 am, and true to form left home at 1.30pm - so bang on time - for me......

The van is full of alcohol but not much food, as I was told this morning "don't pack much, we're eating out - it's Christmas" 'Crikey' I thought - I've never heard that before from His Nibs - @Robert Clark he ain't - So the freezer is empty - having said that we are in the van at Canterbury Park and Ride, waiting for my (home made) Jalfrezi chicken curry to warm up......

I have to say I'm impressed - plenty of spaces, the bus stop 50 yds away, and a pub at the end of the road!

We are off to Canterbury tomorrow - to go relic hunting in the cathedral, Christmas shopping in the city and window shopping only in the music shop - @Janine I played a borrowed Ike last night and fell in love...... So I have no Christmas or birthday presents to come for three years - and I have to wait until 'late Spring' to get my hands on the little beauty.....

Cliff's not convinced - even after I told him it was weeny and wouldn't take up as much space in the van.....

Anyway back to our trip - a quiet night in the van tonight, waiting to see which utterly useless Apprentice will be fired, and a full day tomorrow -The Prologue is done - The Merry Wife of Bath will report back tomorrow

 

[Robert Clark]

Enjoy your adventure!

 

[Anthea M]

Looking forward to those relics!!( I think)

 

[movan]

Photos of relics please.

 

[Debs]

Oooh looking forward to reading Ger

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[cliffanger]

Photos of relics please.

Here's one to be going on with Joy...

 

[Mousy]

Martin says he's backing Cliff on the uke, it's not the size of the thing but the fact it's your third!!
Also what's this about shopping? Has he taught you nowt?

I'm looking forward to relics and weather spoons pics xx

 

[Chris]

I like Canterbury.

I don't like shopping in Canterbury though

 

[cliffanger]

Martin says he's backing Cliff on the uke, it's not the size of the thing but the fact it's your third!!
Also what's this about shopping? Has he taught you nowt?

I'm looking forward to relics and weather spoons pics xx

Yeah, but I have an answer for the uke thing. Yes I may have a TEMPORARY condition - UAS - uke acquisition syndrome - but it will be cured as soon as I get hold of Ike, and @Robert Clark style - I've never worn foundation makeup - EVER - so how much have I saved in 61 years (smacks of desperation I know) but I bet it won't add up to the price of the little beauty....

 

[gus-lopez]

& it's market day Fridays in Canterbury as well.

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[Chris]

& it's market day Fridays in Canterbury as well.

It's only a ickle market though if you mean the trendy farmers market thing near the station.

We went a few weeks ago and it was mainly full of the trendy crowd buying trendy cheese and poncy pastries.

 

[cliffanger]

It's only a ickle market though if you mean the trendy farmers market thing near the station.

We went a few weeks ago and it was mainly full of the trendy crowd buying trendy cheese and poncy pastries.

Phew - stocked up with cheese and only eat pastys when on Hollibobs in Cornwall - so we're safe so far....

 

[Chris]

By the way @cliffandger , I will be interested to learn you views about Debenhams in Canterbury.

I view it as crappy, messy and the most disorganised department store I have ever had the misfortune to visit.

You go to Fenwicks and M&S and it's all pristine, and then you walk in there and it's like going back in time.

 

[cliffanger]

By the way @cliffandger , I will be interested to learn you views about Debenhams in Canterbury.

I view it as crappy, messy and the most disorganised department store I have ever had the misfortune to visit.

You go to Fenwicks and M&S and it's all pristine, and then you walk in there and it's like going back in time.

I soooooo wish @Mousy was here - we love a mission - but I will soldier on alone and will endeavour to report back on the state of the Canterbury Debenhams tomorrow night!

 

[Robert Clark]

If you find yourselves at a lose end, you're welcome to visit Chez Clark just over the border in East Sussex.

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[Steve and Denise]

We both think you should have another uke, as when you ask Cliff if he wants another beer what is his reply. We think we already know.

 

[cliffanger]

We both think you should have another uke, as when you ask Cliff if he wants another beer what is his reply. We think we already know.

I knew there was a reason I liked you two .....

 

[cliffanger]

Well what a lovely day we've had. Breakfast in Spoons, and then a visit to the Cathedral. We didn't pay for the guided tour but didn't miss out on anything, as the volunteer guides are just bursting with facts that they can't keep inside! If you stand still and look at something for more than two seconds, a volunteer comes up behind you and tells you all about the history. We stopped to look at graffiti and a very posh voice came up and said 'pre 1700's graffiti is good, but post 1700 is classed as a nuisance'!

He then lead us to a magnificent stained glass window.....

He said we were lucky - if we'de visited two weeks ago we wouldn't have seen it - as it had been removed 5 years before, when a piece of masonry fell out, and they realised the whole wall, including the window was in danger of collapsing! The whole window has been completely rebuilt, and was blessed and displayed to the public only last week by Archbishop Welby. It was magnificent - and the glass in the lower window is 11th century.

We saw the exact spot where Thomas a Becket was murdered...

And the Anthony Gormley art installation that hovers over where his tomb was placed in the crypt before it was demolished by Henry VIII...

And the candle forever burning on the spot where his shrine stood before it was demolished...

It was an amazing place - but alas no relics......

"No relics??!!" I hear you say...... But you should all know me better than that.....

A short walk from the Cathedral found us in the Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury......

So I don't think I've let you down - even though I couldn't quite get the camera lens through the grid to take a clearer photo!

We wandered around the city for a while and then caught the bus back to the 'aire' - what a gem of a thing it is - £3 a day including the bus into town - brilliant - why can't all the UK Park and Rides follow suit?

We are off tomorrow - probably north to Whitstable for a day by the seaside and some Huitres (for him) and cod and chips (for me) - so for now Good Eventide Sirrahs and Ladies, with lots of lip claps from ye Merry Wyfe of Bath and Her Squire

 

[Mousy]

Lovely Ger, bought back memories of the cathedrals we've been in together, like St David's in Pembrokeshire and our infumouse (see what I've done there?) Turin shroud funeral crash.

Tell his Lordship to enjoy his oysters and afters

 

[cliffanger]

Lovely Ger, bought back memories of the cathedrals we've been in together, like St David's in Pembrokeshire and our infumouse (see what I've done there?) Turin shroud funeral crash.

Tell his Lordship to enjoy his oysters and afters

Will do - although I might not mention the afters to him....,

I forgot to say - the very helpful chap that told us about the magnificent stained glass window also said to go and look at the statues of The Queen and Prince Philip that have been installed on the outside of the cathedral - the only sculpture of the Queen in the world!

I'm sorry but all I could see was an armless Queen and a Prince whose head and only visible hand looked too big for his body! I thought their faces are quite good though....

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[Anthea M]

What a wonderful description Ger , I'm almost tempted to visit myself!!

 

[Khizzie]

Well what a lovely day we've had. Breakfast in Spoons, and then a visit to the Cathedral. We didn't pay for the guided tour but didn't miss out on anything, as the volunteer guides are just bursting with facts that they can't keep inside! If you stand still and look at something for more than two seconds, a volunteer comes up behind you and tells you all about the history. We stopped to look at graffiti and a very posh voice came up and said 'pre 1700's graffiti is good, but post 1700 is classed as a nuisance'!

He then lead us to a magnificent stained glass window.....
View attachment 136618

He said we were lucky - if we'de visited two weeks ago we wouldn't have seen it - as it had been removed 5 years before, when a piece of masonry fell out, and they realised the whole wall, including the window was in danger of collapsing! The whole window has been completely rebuilt, and was blessed and displayed to the public only last week by Archbishop Welby. It was magnificent - and the glass in the lower window is 11th century.

We saw the exact spot where Thomas a Becket was murdered...
View attachment 136620

And the Anthony Gormley art installation that hovers over where his tomb was placed in the crypt before it was demolished by Henry VIII...
View attachment 136622

And the candle forever burning on the spot where his shrine stood before it was demolished...

View attachment 136623

It was an amazing place - but alas no relics......

"No relics??!!" I hear you say...... But you should all know me better than that.....

A short walk from the Cathedral found us in the Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury......
View attachment 136625

View attachment 136626
So I don't think I've let you down - even though I couldn't quite get the camera lens through the grid to take a clearer photo!

We wandered around the city for a while and then caught the bus back to the 'aire' - what a gem of a thing it is - £3 a day including the bus into town - brilliant - why can't all the UK Park and Rides follow suit?

We are off tomorrow - probably north to Whitstable for a day by the seaside and some Huitres (for him) and cod and chips (for me) - so for now Good Eventide Sirrahs and Ladies, with lots of lip claps from ye Merry Wyfe of Bath and Her Squire

Tis a great place Ger. I have been a few times and it always makes me feel very humble to be in such a place of great history and worship. ..Roy

 

[Nirvanauk]

And here was me thanking the heavens for not having seen a moving chuffin avatar all morning and there all here on this thread

 

[cliffanger]

Well - another lovely day. I think I can say safely we've done 'daytrips' today - a drive in the van to Whitstable, Herne Bay and Margate. Whitstable reminded me of the Ile de Oleron but with more independent shops and no blue sky! What a lovely street to wander up and down - every tiny shop selling different things and a real 'vintage' feel about it.

We had lunch in a stunning Spoons - The Peter Cushing. Apparently he lived here for 30 odd years before he died. A cinema with a stunning backdrop to the bar and beautiful Art Deco finishes everywhere.

A rubbish photo that clearly doesn't do it justice, but if you are in Whitstable and you like Spoons, this ones a beaut.

The main reason for visiting beautiful Whitstable for Dawn @Mousy @Mr Mousy , @DavidG58 and his mum....

My phone battery ran out so I can't show you photos of artisan bakers, pubs, vintage dressmakers, ironmongers, toy shops, oyster shacks, chippers, cafes, delis, and - as I informed a total stranger (thinking the Squire was walking behind me...) - there are 3 butchers in the space of 40 feet!!! (He must have been a Whitstableownian - he wasn't impressed...)

All this and a tiny theatre that is still showing am dram productions - I think a town to return to on a sunny day in Spring, but it won't be so easy to wander the street at will as it was today.

You can get a piece of Whitstable action on a permanent basis, but it don't come cheap.....

Beach hut anyone.....?

We drove to Herne Bay and onto Margate, but the weather turned drizzly so we decided to go back to Canterbury P n R, catch the bus into town for a wander and a swift half!

The beautiful entrance to the cathedral - this photo will teach me never to leave my camera in the van again

Heading down the coast tomorrow, visiting Ramsgate, Sandwich and Deal, before stopping over at The Pilot Inn and Dungeness.

 

[DavidG58]

Thanks Geraldine

That warmed me nearly as much as a video we watched today on Bev's phone of the Wimaway at the New Forest Meet your face trying to control a drink infused crowd of funsters was nearly as funny as the quality of the singing

will try and get it onto the forum somehow

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[Debs]

Ger, what's the parking situation like in whitstable? I've wanted to visit for years. Sounds lovely and the wethers sounds like a 'must do'

But what about Debenhams???????

 

[cliffanger]

Ger, what's the parking situation like in whitstable? I've wanted to visit for years. Sounds lovely and the wethers sounds like a 'must do'

But what about Debenhams???????

The parking is fine during the day in the winter, but I think in Spring and Summer you might be better parking in the glorious Canterbury P n R and cycling the 8 miles of the Crab and Winkle Way to Whitstable. The bus network is also brilliant so I think it's an unnecessary hassle to try and park the van up - and as far as I could see there's no chance of overnight stays anywhere near either!

I have to confess I failed the mission and didn't venture into Debenhams, but having wandered around Fenwicks, I think Debenhams comes a poor second in the department store stakes!

 

[cliffanger]

Thanks Geraldine

That warmed me nearly as much as a video we watched today on Bev's phone of the Wimaway at the New Forest Meet your face trying to control a drink infused crowd of funsters was nearly as funny as the quality of the singing

will try and get it onto the forum somehow

David you have no idea how many times I have tried to orchestrate this beautiful, soulful tune, reminicscent of the African Savannah..... I've come close ..... at Chester this year with @Carol @Theonlysue @Ambilkate @daveandsan @Popeye Jac's, et al but I'm still striving for perfection - maybe New Years at Shrewsbury will be the one .......

 

[DavidG58]

I am a man of Kent, or a Kentish man, never can remember which, born in Margate lived in Ramsgate till 5, then started the move north with parents

We went to Whitstable a few years ago and shared a coffee shop with Bob Geldoff, although he sat there nice and quietly he still seemed offensive but not sure he thought much of me either sitting there equally nice and quietly

 

[DavidG58]

- maybe New Years at Shrewsbury will be the one .......

we are still wallowing in about third reserve, so at least you don't look like having me to contend with

but I have just bid on Wildbills charity Uke so could do a distant duet maybe

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