Yesterday my bookshop being closed we headed off, for a day
off, starting with a boot fair where I bought some oil paints, I don’t know if
this will come to anything as I have only ever tried watercolour, as I mostly
endeavour to paint what’s in front of me and don’t like painting from
photographs.
I have rather an unpleasant mental image of standing in a
very public place with an easel in front of me, daubing paint on a canvas with
everything going wrong.
On to Canterbury for lunch at La Trappiste, which is
an offshoot of Ramsgate’s Belgian Café, burger, pot of tea, Coke and cheese
sarni came to about £18 which was both better and cheaper than most lunches in
Canterbury.
They seem to have managed to transport the relaxed
atmosphere, so we were in the right frame of mind to tackle Canterbury.
Apologies here to Chris Wells who has previously complained
about the photos of my lunch.
As you see a bus got into the maze of narrow streets in the
middle of Canterbury and had some difficulty getting out.
I will ramble on here as and if I get time, hopefully adding
some pictures on the way.
I have had some difficulties over my mass publication of
pictures to the internet and am in the process of changing my web hosting
provider, so the several hundred pictures on the camera card will have to wait until
I get this sorted out.
In a way Canterbury lived up to expectations,
there were as you see Canterbury Bells in flower, what concerns me though is
the ongoing decline of the proper shop.
As you see Hawkin’s Bazaar has gone, presumably a victim of
the internet, where most things are cheaper, I think aren’t they?
From my point of view as a retailer, I now use
the simple expedient of looking books up online before I price them, in order
to make sure the prices in my bookshop are competitive, although I think there
is also a problem here with perceptions.
At one point I retired into Grey Friars for a
while, this is useful to know about if you visit Canterbury and can provide a
respite from shopping.
The photos are more representative than meant to
be particularly good, but should give you some idea of this calm haven in the
middle of the city.
Eighteen quid for that, Michael!? A rip off, really.
ReplyDelete