Click to enlarge Thanet photos

 

Starting with this photo of an Addington Street basketmaker in the early 1900s. It gives you a very good idea of what life was like before plastic containers. Makes you think about rolling the clock back to something like these two making baskets taking them on a hand cart to sell, and how how they could get a living wage doing this.

Another Addington Street one this time of the dairy, I would guess this is 1930s as the van has pneumatic tyres back and front. Actual door to door delivery would have been done by the horse and handcarts on the left of the photo.

I've added the following update from Michael Cates on Facebook

That's a misleading photo of Wellard's Dairy. The address on the building suggests Addington Street, but it was, in fact, in Duncan Road,Cumberland Road on the corner of Ayton opposite Coronation Road. The building is still there, minus most of its character, of course!

Interesting side view of The old Royal Hotel building and with the Royal on the market at the moment I do wonder whether it will be demolished and rebuilt again.

And here you have a view of part of the front of the royal probably about 1910 tram lines are in

Ethelbert crescent postmark 1908

Here you see the sea facing side of the newly built Winter Gardens

On the Michael front I did this little sketch based on an Edward Hopper drawing. Here at Michael's Bookshop in Ramsgate the wet weather means we are pretty quiet at the moment. 

With Facebook I get a lot of friends requests and for the most part I just accept them. I assume that these come from people who like me are interested in in art, reading books, East Kent local history or just know me or knew me at some time. However in the last week I have had to remove some of the very recent friends as they seem to be promoting spam, pornography and all the usual junk.

For blog readers who also read books 

link to the books we put out for sale today