Pleasurama Ramsgate photos from around 1960 and the 1,700 year old bikini.

 I think this Pleasurama entrance night shot dates from around 1960, the middle front car looks to be a Harry Potter type Ford Anglia and although they started making Ford Anglias in 1939 they didn't evolve from the "sit up and beg" shape to the Potter version until 1959.

An advanced body shape in its day, based on American design and developed using a wind tunnel. My father had one back in the day which eventually fell over on a bend, he eventually moved on to Morris Travellers which were much more advanced, handled much better and went much faster.

 Based on the top card I assume this one is also about 1960

 This one postmarked 1913, the Victorian propriety still hung on with bathing from bathing machines, it was really WW1 that did for them although you still see a few machines in photos up until the mid 1920s. By 1939 the bikini appeared in the official Ramsgate holiday guide. 

Much of the dating of old photographs is related to understanding fashion with swimwear fashion being a specialist area. 

None of this is strictly true as the picture above dates from 1,700 years ago and the 1930s bikinis have a bikini top with bottoms like shorts 

 This one postmarked 1937

 Note the Ramsgate coat of arms on this one postmarked 1905

 The top card very shiny with lots of dark areas was difficult to photograph, I did my best with my phone in the shop window, but the light was going a bit.

Linking up my blog posts to the local Facebook groups is proving difficult again, I think Facebook views what I do with the blog, local history, local bookshop as some sort of hostile advertising.

I have to admit to doing something similar myself just now, I was on the till desk in the bookshop when someone came in and said their car had broken down and could they use the phone. Having recently read something about a scam along these lines combined with the unlikelihood of anyone driving around without a mobile phone, I just said. "No sorry you can't."

So if a stranger asks to use your phone, what are the risks? I think with an ordinary landline the worst is probably about £1.50 per minute, that would be using an 09 number to steal your cash. I think handing someone your mobile phone is much riskier, premium rate texts can cost up to £10 and there is also the risk of the putting some malicious app on your phone. 

I think despite seeing the person standing by their car ostensibly waiting for the AA the answer will still be no.

Not sure what the red liquid around the edge of the pavilion is

Perhaps the grand old Edwardian lady is bleeding

I popped out for a cuppa there and took the photo above and a few others

this is the link to the rest of them

So by way of a blog apology, at the dinner table this evening the question. "Why do you bother to do a blog post every day?" came up. My answer along the lines of. "Without a record of today, then in a weeks time it will have gone, so there is a sense that I might as well be dead." Well there is an element of truth, but that is also not quite right, looking back to what I was doing on this day last year.

Looking back it's the days without the pictures taken or drawn on that day that seem to be, well to be honest just gone.