Canterbury, Coffee, Cathedrals, Credit Cards, Cards, Chaucer and Chefs. That surprised you didn't it? You were expecting some X rated discussions and all you got was Canterbury, Coffee, Cathedrals, Credit Cards, Chefs etc.
Most come from our recent visit to Canterbury and are musings over what we saw and heard.
First of all, Canterbury is a first class place. Thanks to having a OPBP (Old Person's Bus Pass) we travelled at the front of a double decker on a journey of about 40 minutes across the picturesque rolling hills of the North Downs.
We have visited Canterbury a few times but not for a number of decades and the only thing I could remember from a previous visit was our coach not being able to get through the city gate/arch. Canterbury is hugely historic and one of the finest cities in the land. To me it's a mixture of York, Cambridge and Oxford although I don't profess to having much of a love of Chaucer. At times in my life I have had a problem with spelling and it's all down to Chaucer as my Grammer Skool hed masster pointed out in my summer report.
Part of my A level studies included two pieces of Chaucer. Can't remember which but I think one might have been The Wife of Bath's Tale. We read it in the original English and let's face it Chaucerian spelling wasn't good. I suppose it was ok back in the day. So I started spelling words in Chaucerian English and the dear Headmaster (Stuart Andrews) pointed out in my report that since studying Chaucer my spelling had deteriorated.
Anyway I eventually chucked off the medieval spelling and came into the modern world. I have forgiven Canterbury for forcing me to remember all that.
Yesterday as you all know was Valentine's Day and we celebrated by having lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant where the pizza was large and yummy. Not sure about having an egg spread over a pizza but just about came to terms with that. Mind you I'm surprised that my other threequarters was still talking to me. In Folkestone I bought a Valentine's card. Problem is I didn't put my glasses on so couldn't really see what the card said. It featured two cute rabbits sitting staring into the sky on a beach. In the air was the words "I Love You". The caption was something like "you'll see all the message once that cloud has gone." Under the cloud was the word Don't. I'll leave you to work that one out. I'm still alive but it will serve me right to not put on my glasses. I wonder why the shop owner chuckled and said "this is a good one. We sell lots of these."
So that's Canterbury, Cards and Chaucer chalked off the list. How about credit card, coffee, chefs and Cathedrals? Let's take Cathedrals first. We only got a look at Canterbury Cathedral from a distance. To visit would have cost us £14 each (that's £28 in total). I'm sorry but I refuse to pay to go into any church. I don't mind making a donation and will always buy souvenirs but I don't see why you should have to pay to go into a house of God. Ok I understand the arguments about how much it costs to keep a Cathedral open but come on. I would like to ask the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby what he thinks of charging so much. He seems to be a man of the people. Surely £5 would be reasonable?
Credit cards - well it all gets a bit confusing. We have businesses with signs that say "card payments only" and others that say "cash only." Then there are those that say "no card payments under £5." This really needs sorting out. As for coffee, well I would like a serious Government grant to look into why some coffee shops are always full while others are virtually empty.
We make a rule of only frequenting independent tea rooms and not national chains. We tried twice to go to a very popular coffee shop in Canterbury but twice it was full. Just round the corner was another independent that was absolutely empty. So we went there. The coffee and pastries were good so why was nobody in there? I feel this kind of thing requires an in depth study over a prolonged period of time with some serious funding.
My final C is chefs. Just a sign in a restaurant in Canterbury. It said "Chef of the Year 2014." Seemed a strange thing to boast that your chef was chef of the year eight years ago. He's probably long since gone somewhere else.
I hope you like some of my photos of Canterbury.
* * *
Finally today the P word. Parking charges - got back to find a piece on the local television channel stating that parking charges in central Canterbury will be rising sharply over the next 12 months. Checked the roadside meters and they cost £2.40 per hour. The higher the cost of parking, the more people will turn to shopping outside city centres and online. The way things are going you will have to take out a mortgage to park the car.
And finally finally - post office employees. I'm sure I have made these comments before but they are worth repeating. It is astonishing that over 700 employees of the Post Office were sent to prison and charged with fraud thanks to an appalling computer programme. They were all innocent. I cannot believe the sheer arrogance of the powers that be in the Post Office who thought they had over 700 employees trying to take them for a ride and stealing from them. I cannot believe that not one person questioned the computer software. This shows a total lack of intelligence, a total lack of grasping the situation and a total lack of anything even approaching common sense. I hope that all those wrongly accused, many of whom spent time in prison, are awarded huge sums in compensation. Apparently the Post Office has apologised but that just doesn't cut it in this case. Imagine being imprisoned when you know you have done nothing wrong and nobody will believe you and then finding out that over 700 other people have also been wrongly accused.