Looking around my bookshop for examples of this, here is one by Spike Milligan, this copy is more fun than the average as Spike signed it.
As you see there are modern authorized stories still coming out.
I did get out at lunch time and take a few pictures, I obviously need to clean the camera out as it has developed bits, sorry about this, anyway a few thoughts on the pictures, here they are http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/212/id4.htm
The road surface and pavements of King Street are getting in bit of a state and on Monday there were some ward councilors, county councilor and cabinet members doing a walk around of Ramsgate town center.
As the whole business of the state of our town centers seems to hang between the various local councils I asked them if they could have look at the pavement and road layout so that when the money is spent fixing the problem, we could at least get the worst of the problems facing pedestrians sorted out.
The layout of King Street dates from when it was a busy two way traffic rout through the town, now it is a one way road that only leads to a car park there is potential for widening pavements where it is difficult for people in wheelchairs and people with pushchairs, they seem agreeable to looking at the issue.
Strange to see the tower block with a ground floor window boarded up, I wonder what caused this.
The new house on Plains of Waterloo has wound up with a street lamp in front of the front door.
It does seem that work has stopped on building The Royal Sands at the Pleasurama site, my guess is that they are waiting on the results of next month’s council cabinet meeting, although I suppose it could be because I forwarded on the information the council sent me about the sea defense to the contractor.
The Pavilion is looking sad and deserted; I hope the council will try to do something about it soon.
The scaffolding is coming of Pier Castle, Peters Fish Factory, Belgian Café, or whatever you call it. It seems to be looking OK which is a relief as it is one of the oldest Ramsgate buildings not to have listed status.
The scaffolding seems to be coming of The Alexandra although the work on the building doesn’t seem to be finished which is a bit strange.
A low flying cargo plane came over, which reminds me I need to address the night flying consultation, I guess thinking about this one I don’t really know properly what the airport are asking for. By this I mean, I know they are asking for night flights for planes below a certain noise level, but I don’t really know how loud the planes they want to fly over the town at night are.
Basically as loud as the one you heard just fly over. An upper limit of QC4 would include all the lumbering old 747s that we currently get during the day. Between 11pm and 11:30pm - during the "night-time period" - there would be no limit on the number of planes, and no limit on the noisiness of planes. Same applies between 6am and 7am. It's also worth pointing out that between 11:30pm and 6am (the so-called Quota Count period) there is no limit on the number of unscheduled flights - the late arrivals and the unavoidably delayed. And crucially, if Manston breaks the few rules that it has suggested for night flying there are no fines, no punishment, no comeback. Given the frequency of flights we already get on their limited activity we're in for unlimited freight flights during the night.
ReplyDeleteI would urge your readers that are concerned by the impact this will have on the area, Ramsgate in particular, should send their thoughts to TDC consultation@thanet.gov.uk The first line of your email should make it clear that you are against night flights between 11pm and 7am.
ReplyDeleteUse the rest of your email to explain why, if you want to.
You MUST give your name, full address and post code.
The glossy newsletter that Manston posted this week requested correspondence be sent to the airport when then MAY get forwarded to TDC.
I did laugh at your comment that anybody concerned by the proposal should object.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if the NIMBY's suggested that people find out more information rather than just object willy-nilly then they would get a bit more respect for their case ?
And of course countering genuine concerns over health, education and future investment with 'NIMBY' doesn't exactly further the debate. Wish I could find it all so laughable.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be confusing "off" and "of" quite a bit lately Michael. Fine for a blog post, unprofessional for official emails and letters.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:00 PM, the first line of the e-mail could (not should) also make it clear that you are not against night flights.
ReplyDeleteTony - That was the point I was trying to make. The anonymous poster didn't mention the option for people to write saying they support the airport plans.
ReplyDeleteI have started looking into the airport issue, initial unconfirmed investigations suggest that Infratil have been trying to sell the airport to a Middle Eastern operator, but this has fallen through.
ReplyDeleteIt also appears that it may have been their decision to minimise expenditure at Manston that caused Flybee to pull out, nothing to do with night flights and not entirely due to route failure either. By this I mean that Infratil may have been reluctant to make the sufficient investment in facilities that Flybee wanted if the were to stay at Manston.
I do aim to do a post about the night flights issue once I feel that I have the best information I can get.
I would welcome some more detailed information from those who are pro night flights, at the moment their case seems weak, I fact I find that I am lacking a coherent understanding of what the pro night flights argument is.
I also think that it is very difficult for local people to respond to the consultation in favour of night flights, without having any experience of a period with night flights operating at the maximum level that the airport are asking for.
Sorry about the typos in the post, I touch type these posts very quickly and the computer I used doesn’t seem to like fast double strokes on the same key.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI'm pro night-flights and I'm happy to give you the facts you need. Mr. Buchanan has confirmed that they aren't applying for unlimited night-flights. In fact, they only want a maximum of 2 per night and these will be ever so quiet. I'm paraphrasing but I think that's what he said.
That nice Mr. Buchanan has also confirmed that this will create thousands of jobs and that at least two thirds of these will go to people who live in Thanet. I'm not too sure what all of these people will be doing up there but they must be jobs that can be done by unskilled workers. They have a lot of grass and I imagine they need a lot of people to cut it. The fence could do with painting as well.
As for the NIMBYs who are opposed to night-flights, there seem to be thousands of them. I don't care how many of them there are. We live in a democracy, and this means that the people in charge are free to ignore people they don't like.
Anyway, these people knew there was an airport there when they bought their houses. They should have anticipated that it would end up operating 24 hours a day. That's why I've never bought a house. I keep anticipating problems.
Good luck getting detailed information on the positives of night flights at Manston. Their glossy newsletter that plopped on my mat this week is a case in point. Jobs figures quoted as though fact (1 million passengers = 1 thousand jobs) though they are completely out of kilter with the other airports in the UK. And without having had an Environmental Impact Assessment or the economic benefits of night-flights having been properly defined there is a risk that the introduction of night-flights will have a negative economic impact, with working people who contribute to the town moving away from the area, and tourists choosing to stay away from a place blighted by cargo flights at night. It seems a lot of your readers are more interested in scrutinising spelling and poor grammar than the claims of an airport that has been left to do as it pleases and cruelly deceive an area that is desperate for jobs and positive economic prospects.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous at 08:21,
ReplyDeleteYou say that it seems a lot of Michaels's readers are more interested in scrutinising spelling and poor grammar... I find your statement curious bearing in mind that we are frequently told how spelling and grammar is no longer taught in schools.
John I think the problem here is readers may be inclined to compare with commercially written material, rather than something I have just jotted down between customers.
ReplyDeleteI am now behind the desk in my bookshop and have just read through my post, the two errors that actually made me wince were:
I did get out at lunch time and take a few pictures
two way traffic rout
If I had had time I would have read it through and corrected the worst of it, there doesn’t seem much point now, the grammar is another matter though as I spent most of my primary school years in various hospitals and convalescent homes, I never really learnt any, I bung in a scattering of commas, in a bit of a random manner, but that’s about the best you are ever likely to get.
John Holyer is quite correct to emphasise the importance of spelling and grammar. Unfortunately, he didn't quite manage to pull off an error free posting himself.
ReplyDelete"Michaels's readers"