Ramble, Canterbury pictures and so on.

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.