Around 150 photos – old photos of Ramsgate and Margate – photos taken today of Ramsgate and Canterbury

Clicking on the pictures in the post will expand them, the rest are in strips on pages, click on the links below for them

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/518l/id6.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/518l/id7.htm

I started another painting in Canterbury

Ramsgate today

Supper at the Royal Victoria Pavilion Ramsgate Wetherspoons 

In terms of overall choice, cleanliness, view, atmosphere I am sure you can improve on this, but for someone with teenage children it's still the best option hereabouts. 

The camera photos for today were taken using the Canon S3 IS here is the content of my camera card http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/518l/id5.htm

The books that went out in the bookshop http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/the-feather-men-in-bookshop.html

I gather there were a lot of windows broken in York Street.

I had a lot of comments related to local history deleted on Facebook and no one seems to know why.

Interesting hinged split barge on the slipway at the moment

Hydraulic controls allow it to open and dump the cargo on the sea bed

Neil Dixon at York Street Gallery in Ramsgate

Neil Dixon exhibition runs 2nd May - 9th May 

An expensive pint in Wetherspoons in Whitstable, bookbuying, local pictures, ramble.

Having bought a good batch of books in Herne Bay this morning, it was on to Oxford Street Books in Whitstable this is good midday destination for us as we can park in the car park get a drink and use the loos in Wetherspoons, do Oxford Street books next door, get lunch in Wetherspoons, do the rest of the shops in Whitstable in fact something of a busman’s day off.

Normally I would say that Wetherspoons is going to be pretty competitive on the price of a pint

But not a pint of milk

Oxford Street Books have had something of a revamp with the rest of the cellar now opened up, making the shop around the same size (in terms of the numbers of shelves of books) of our bookshop here in Ramsgate.

Here are some photos of this part of the bookshop

Back To Wetherspoons for lunch

Which was the usual very good value, which is normal for Wetherspoons

Camera wise today I used the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, this is the smallest of my bridge cameras, (the Pentax in the picture is a conventional DSLR for size comparison} fitting comfortably into the average pocket. Like all digital cameras it has its good points and bad points and my choice in cameras for blogging along with the phone camera is based on a mixture of cost and results.

One of the most important things for me in a camera is that it has a conventional viewfinder, so I can adjust it to my eyesight and see both what I am taking photos of and read the menus without glasses in bright sunlight.

Here is the link to the content of the camera card for today http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/518l/id4.htm  the pictures in the body of this post being taken with my Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus phone. Another compromise between cost and perfection, this phone is particularly good at connecting, phone signal, wifi, Bluetooth and the camera is just reasonable.

Anyway I copied some old local pictures with the phone camera

Tea at Whitstable Castle, so all round a pleasant excursion, I enjoy visiting bookshops and of course working in my own bookshop, here is the link to the books we put out yesterday http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/sea-egg-again-in-bookshop.html

The weather looks as though it will be reasonably OK for the bank holiday weekend, painting and bookshops for me I hope 

Cathy and David Harvey at Nice Things Harbour Street Ramsgate

Exhibition runs May 2 - May 15

The bookshop, death in Ramsgate Harbour, local history, Peppa The Pig and the media business.

The sad story of the yachtsmen killed using the harbour during a yellow weather alert is still doing the rounds. There is a lot of “should have known” bettering from the after the event crowd. This seems to have moved from social media to the real world where people are less inclined to tell people how distasteful they find it.

I was first up this morning and having made tea and taken it back to bed it was the article about China banning Peppa Pig that most interested me and I read aloud to my wife http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-43953432 I have to admit to not really understanding exactly what the article was about.

Here in the bookshop I have a number of Peppa Pig customers and don’t rate them as being particularly subversive. The most sensible of the parents bring their children to the bookshop for each books, ask me to close the door onto the street and then let the potential Peppa customers out of their pushchairs so they can decide which book they want to buy. 

The whole business of getting children to want to read is a complex one and not one that works well in the "don't do what I do do what I tell you" environment.

I did get out for a bit today and took some photos, this is the link to the content of my camera card 

Old Photos next Ramsgate today

 Note the Granville before the height of the tower was reduced in 1900

This is the link to the books we put out today bookshop wise

I am having issues with virtual sound files to the extent that I went out and bought a walkman today. As I am typing this I have to admit that I am listening to the first cd of The Rolling Stones “Hot Rocks 1964-1971” through sound cancelling headphones.

This works anywhere, doesn't drain my phone battery or data runs on 2 AA batteries altogether difficult to explain, but essentially does what it says on the box.

I usually get tinnitus listening to music, however with the right tec and the right music I seem to have found a way of avoiding this.

The only headphones that make a significant difference for me have been the Bose QC25 which are expensive. I get the best results with either music I know very well or one person talking i.e. radio or talking book.