Did you have a nice bank holiday weekend? Shame about the weather, though I'm not bothered by rain. In fact I welcome it. However, sometimes when you're off you don't want to be confined to the car with a 99, or shuffling through narrow streets keeping eyes and umbrella spokes apart.
But that's how it was in Ramsgate. We took a trip to the Isle of Thanet (not really an isle) to see a relative of Mrs F-C and his girlfriend (they met on the net, but that's another story), who recently moved there. Some beautiful Georgian and Victorian houses (including theirs for an irritating knockdown price too), but not a lot going on. I think I'd go mad, no matter how much I yearn for a quiet life.
Gorgeous old seafront and promende, loads of nice looking pubs and cafes, a Salvation Army silver band (I was hoping for I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight but it wasn't to be), sandcastle flags, coach parties of old dears from the East End, a well-stocked marina and even a Waterstones.
But dig a little deeper and it's boarded up shops, boarded up people, social problems, drugs, rough pubs, nasty food and all in the rain too, and only two hours from London but seeming like a lifetime away. We also whizzed along to Broadstairs, only about five minutes on from Ramsgate, which was prettier and more traditional, but so tiny. A holiday home would be nice, but how much time you'd spend there is anyone's guess.
All my London hatred goes out the window when I go somewhere like this. I like the seaside but I'm never entirely sure I'd like to live there. The same goes for the countryside. Not full time anyway. I'm not sure how long they'll stay there. They came from London and neither of them are working. Unsurprisingly it's not that easy to get the jobs they want in Ramsgate.
So back to London through driving rain and it felt great to be back.
2 comments:
My old boss used to go on holidays to Broadstairs to re-create the walks of Charles Dickens. Which was nice. I always think the English seaside is a sad reflection of British society, and no place more so than Hastings - full of lovely properties being used as short-term accommodation for the homeless and drug addicts. Talking of which, Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence had a second home there.
Hastings is neatly bisected by an underpass running through the centre. On the one side are pound shops, violent pubs and bookies. On the other is the rarified 'Old Town', populated by actors, artists and sellers of 'vintage' clothing. The two sides live in an atmosphere of mutual loathing, resentment and suspicion which often takes physical form.
But it's a damn sight better than Eastbourne.
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