SUPERB RENOVATION of St Michael & St Bishoy Coptic Church in Northdown Road

The outstanding renovation of this building was achieved with funding from English Heritage.

The church building now looks absolutely marvelous. The standard of workmanship appears very high and the end result is a gleaming newly renovated asset for Cliftonville. All credit to the church for giving us a wonderfully refurbished backdrop to Northdown Road.

Cllr. Clive Hart

Please find attached 2 x pictures of St Michael & St Bishoy Coptic Church in Northdown Road, Cliftonville (formerly St Stephen's).

Ed I got a bit behind yesterday two emails for publication from Clive Heart this is the first as he sent two pictures I will use one for each post.

Pictures of Northdown Road Cliftonville taken this morning

These were all taken between about 8.30 am and about 9.30 am today, frankly there didn’t appear to be as many shops closed as I expected which is a good thing.

On the minus side it seems to be just on the edge of a place you can definitely call a shopping centre and one you can’t. By this I mean once you discount shops that are not selling tangible goods, by this I mean, estate agents, insurance brokers, solicitors etc there is not that much left.

Click on the links to look at the pictures.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad/id3.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad/id4.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/northdownroad/id5.htm

A few hundred pictures of Ramsgate thaken this morning and the traditional English seaside coffee ceremony.

I tried to do what I did in Margate yesterday wander round the main part of the town centre and the seafront taking snaps, I was about 10 mins later starting at 6.40 and I am afraid when I got to the Belgium Bar I succumbed to a cup of coffee at 7.35.

You have to appreciate they import, roast and grind their own coffee beans, I am afraid sitting chatting to a few people also having their coffee it was 8.10 when I got going again.

So yes I did finish later, I say in my own defence that had I found a decent coffee in a pleasant part of Margate yesterday at around that time, the same would have happened.

The pictures are published in chronological order and I have marked 8.30 the time I left Margate yesterday.

I thought today would be the fairest on Margate as our part of the town centre where I started has its residential rubbish collection this morning so always looks at its worst.

As far as the empty shops in Ramsgate go they are fast running out, I will explain more about this later in the day when I add to this post.

What I am most interested in here is trying to discover why Ramsgate is improving so rapidly while businesses in Margate seem to be closing at such an alarming rate.

My bookshop is right on the edge of Ramsgate town centre i.e. the worst part of the town from a trading point of view, I have spent most of the last two years trading with the large shop next door now Costcutter, empty, the shop on the other side of me was empty for about 10 years until fairly recently, as you can see from the pictures this is no longer the case and I wonder why.

Click on the links to look at the pictures I will try and get round to deleting the worst ones.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts5/

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts5/id3.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts5/id4.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts5/id5.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts5/id6.htm

As usual the pictures were pasted directly into an automatic web-publishing program, Trellix web, manufactured in 2000 it is now rather dated software, but at least I know roughly how to use it, the whole publishing exercise took me less than 5 mins.

The camera used was the same one as yesterday a Ricoh Caplio GX manufactured in 2004, it is now a rather dated piece of equipment, but at least I know what most of the buttons on it do.

The things I find most useful about this particular camera is that it is very small so it fits in the pocket and it looks pretty innocuous, more like an old 35mm compact bought from the charity shop than a digital camera.

Some info about some of the closed shops that I have gleaned recently click on the link to view http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts5/id8.htm

Wind farm and dingy sailing.

Sorry some of the pictures are a little hazy but they are of things that are a long way away, they were taken at the weekend click on the link to view.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id9.htm

Traditional English tea ceremony in Margate and a few hundred pictures of the town this morning.

The loud rattling of a roadwork’s generator in Margate High Street attracted my attention, as someone with a background in engineering I can assure you that the only thing connected to this large diesel generator is the electric kettle on top of it.

The workmen are engaged in the traditional English tea making ceremony, an important part of which consists of watching the kettle so as to delay the water in it from boiling.

Click on the picture above to enlarge it and you will see what I mean.

Click on the links for the pictures of Margate all taken this morning between 6.30 am an 8.30 am.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id3.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id4.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id5.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id6.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts4/id7.htm

I will endeavour to delete the worst of them later, please feel free to use any you like in any way you like I would appreciate a mention of http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/ so others get a chance to view them but this is in no way compulsory.

Thanet District Council spent nearly £1,000,000 on a repair that hasn’t worked

One of the big problems with the Pleasurama development is the close proximity of the rear of the building to the cliff.

The concrete cliff façade was originally a fairly poor job that suffered from years of lack of proper maintenance click on the link to read part of the engineers report on it.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/tdc/report.htm

Click on this link for more detail.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/tdc/id39.htm

Since I first obtained the report I have had an ongoing dialogue with the engineer who prepared it.

Today I sent him the following email.

“Hi **** I had look at the repair work to the cliff façade behind the Pleasurama site last week I thought I would get your opinion before making a fuss to TDC and the developer.

The cliff top drainage doesn’t appear to be being kept clear.

There is vegetation growing out of many of the drainage holes.

There is considerable degradation of some areas of block infill many of the joints are exposed again many with vegetation growing from them.

Finally and probably most importantly several cracks in the main arches and portals have appeared several now have vegetation growing from them.

I don’t know how much of this you know I have attached a few pictures to give you a general idea and can go down there with a powerful telephoto lens should you need more detail.

I have certain reservations that it will be possible to keep the cliff façade maintained for the expected life of the building working from the narrow space available and would like your opinion on this one.

I also think the contractor may have produced a substandard job and this may need looking into before work commences on the new development.

I have a meeting with some of the planning officers involved this week so any input would be useful.

Best regards Michael”

He is usually a chap to send justifications for any expensive civil engineering work conducted for TDC that he has any involvement in so I find his rather curt reply below of considerable concern.

“Thank you Michael I believe that Thanet are aware of this.

Regards

****”

Click on the link for the photos I sent him http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id41.htm

Compare the condition of the cliff façade with that of the 100 year old lift beside it in the picture above.

Back in the world of the blogging a few pictures of Ramsgate today to start.

I am sort of half back and able to sit down for long enough to type something that at least makes some sort of sense to me, so I hope to get a few posts with some sort of contentment in them up this week.

First a few pictures from my walk between about 10.30 and 11.30 this morning.

I used a small pocket digital camera rather than humping all the unusual stuff about, it is quite old and rather primitive click on the link to view http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id40.htm

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month and loads of pictures

Here are the referral stats (where people come from on the net to get to this site) for the last month.

With my problems at the moment it’s just the first 60, the figurers mean the following:
Source/Medium Visits Pages/Visit Avg. Time on Site % New Visits Bounce Rate.

So the best I can get to a chart of local blog popularity.

The picture above is of grains of sand on Kingsgate beach, click on the picture to make it bigger, click on the link http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id31.htm for a few others from yesterday evening’s picnic there, I think I took a few hundred more and will put them up in the fullness of time.

here are the rest of yesterdays picts

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id38.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id39.htm

1. (direct) / (none) 1,252 1.68 00:03:47 29.15% 70.13%
2. google / organic 1,072 1.63 00:01:50 69.31% 73.97%

3. eastcliffrichard.blogspot.com / referral 717 1.47 00:01:27 13.25% 73.92%
4. bignewsmargate.blogspot.com / referral 289 1.46 00:01:20 15.57% 71.63%
5. blogger.com / referral 278 2.60 00:11:03 0.36% 52.88%
6. thanetstrife.blogspot.com / referral 156 1.67 00:01:52 8.97% 64.10%
7. thanetonline.com / referral 122 1.89 00:02:51 28.69% 61.48%
8. yahoo / organic 110 2.27 00:02:43 79.09% 69.09%
9. michaelsbookshop.com / referral 109 2.06 00:03:10 45.87% 57.80%
10. marknottingham.blogspot.com / referral 108
11. thanetcoastlife.blogspot.com / referral 67 1.93 00:03:03 14.93% 46.27%
12. images.google.co.uk / referral 64 2.16 00:03:27 57.81% 65.62%
13. doverferryphotosforums.co.uk / referral 51 1.47 00:01:19 88.24% 68.63%
14. eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com / referral 49 1.37 00:00:48 20.41% 75.51%
15. twitter.com / referral 45 1.29 00:01:22 15.56% 86.67%
16. aol / organic 36 1.33 00:00:53 77.78% 83.33%
17. billowrights.blogspot.com / referral 35 1.17 00:00:17 2.86% 82.86%
18. thandotnet.blogspot.com / referral 32 1.88 00:05:03 0.00% 59.38%
19. margatearchitecture.blogspot.com / referral 30 1.70 00:00:37 36.67% 66.67%
20. thanetpress.blogspot.com / referral 30 1.33 00:01:07 20.00% 73.33%
21. stopmanstonexpansiongroup.blogspot.com / referral 29 1.62 00:01:37 13.79% 68.97%
22. monaxle.com / referral 25 1.32 00:01:21 96.00% 76.00%
23. thanetblogs.blogspot.com / referral 24 1.17 00:00:04 0.00% 83.33%
24. images.google.com / referral 22 1.50 00:01:02 95.45% 72.73%
25. google.com / referral 20 1.20 00:00:26 45.00% 80.00%
26. yourbritishvillage.com / referral 17 1.65 00:01:03 70.59% 70.59%
27. bing / organic 16 2.31 00:01:12 75.00% 68.75%
28. planesoverhernebay.blogspot.com / referral 16 1.81 00:02:32 6.25% 62.50%
29. promotethanet.blogspot.com / referral 16 1.19 00:01:40 43.75% 81.25%
30. search / organic 16 1.81 00:02:21 81.25% 68.75%
31. google.co.uk / referral 15 1.87 00:03:25 13.33% 46.67%
32. nakedinthanet.blogspot.com / referral 15 1.13 00:00:28 6.67% 86.67%
33. gps-brasil.blogspot.com / referral 13 1.00 00:00:00 0.00% 100.00%
34. thanetunderground.blogspot.com / referral 11 1.55 00:02:22 72.73% 72.73%
35. yvonnes-jottings.blogspot.com / referral 11 1.36 00:00:38 63.64% 81.82%
36. ask / organic 10 1.10 00:00:21 80.00% 90.00%
37. bmfinkent.co.uk / referral 7 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
38. newingtonblogspot.blogspot.com / referral 7 1.57 00:00:45 28.57% 71.43%
39. startmanstonexpansiongroup.blogspot.com / referral 7 1.29 00:02:09 0.00% 85.71%
40. villagevoices.blogspot.com / referral 7 2.14 00:01:03 28.57% 57.14%
41. blogs.thanetfinder.com / referral 6 1.83 00:01:32 66.67% 50.00%
42. tiscali.co.uk / referral 6 2.17 00:07:26 50.00% 33.33%
43. thegreatdaktari.blogspot.com / referral 5 1.20 00:00:31 0.00% 80.00%
44. images.google.de / referral 4 2.00 00:00:54 75.00% 50.00%
45. search1.sky.com / referral 4 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
46. thanetobserver.blogspot.com / referral 4 1.00 00:00:00 75.00% 100.00%
47. facebook.com / referral 3 1.67 00:03:07 0.00% 33.33%
48. wikio.co.uk / referral 3 3.67 00:12:33 33.33% 33.33%
49. altavista / organic 2 1.50 00:00:27 50.00% 50.00%
50. birchington.blogspot.com / referral 2 1.50 00:00:27 50.00% 50.00%
51. google.ca / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
52. images.google.co.in / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
53. images.google.co.nz / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
54. images.google.ee / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
55. images.google.ro / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
56. lordmatt.co.uk / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 50.00% 100.00%
57. opensandwichkent.co.uk / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
58. riverlogue.blogspot.com / referral 2 1.50 00:01:42 50.00% 50.00%
59. thanetonline.blogspot.com / referral 2 3.00 00:22:52 0.00% 50.00%
60. uk.mc236.mail.yahoo.com / referral 2 2.00 00:01:39 0.00% 50.00%


Here are a few picts I took today in the end I managed to get most of the crud out of the camera.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id33.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id34.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id35.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts3/id36.htm

Here are the http://thanetpress.blogspot.com/ stats

1. eastcliffrichard.blogspot.com / referral 245 1.46 00:00:50 21.63% 81.22%
2. google / organic 158 1.72 00:01:12 83.54% 81.01%
3. thanetonline.blogspot.com / referral 144 2.24 00:03:29 29.86% 54.17%
4. (direct) / (none) 114 1.49 00:00:20 57.02% 81.58%
5. thanetstrife.blogspot.com / referral 88 2.06 00:02:40 17.05% 60.23%
6. marknottingham.blogspot.com / referral 37 1.16 00:00:15 18.92% 86.49%
7. twitter.com / referral 31 1.94 00:01:59 22.58% 80.65%
8. nakedinthanet.blogspot.com / referral 26 1.15 00:00:16 19.23% 84.62%
9. thanetcoastlife.blogspot.com / referral 25 1.44 00:00:38 28.00% 68.00%
10. blogger.com / referral 22 2.18 00:03:47 31.82% 50.00%
11. villagevoices.blogspot.com / referral 21 1.76 00:01:59 19.05% 71.43%
12. margatearchitecture.blogspot.com / referral 20 1.20 00:00:14 50.00% 80.00%
13. eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com / referral 14 1.07 00:00:45 14.29% 92.86%
14. thisfrenchlife.com / referral 12 1.25 00:01:08 91.67% 75.00%
15. thanetblogs.blogspot.com / referral 9 1.22 00:00:26 0.00% 77.78%
16. aol / organic 8 1.88 00:00:14 87.50% 75.00%
17. billowrights.blogspot.com / referral 7 1.00 00:00:00 0.00% 100.00%
18. stopmanstonexpansiongroup.blogspot.com / referral 7 1.14 00:00:01 14.29% 85.71%
19. thandotnet.blogspot.com / referral 7 1.00 00:00:00 28.57% 100.00%
20. planesoverhernebay.blogspot.com / referral 6 1.67 00:00:44 16.67% 50.00%
21. startmanstonexpansiongroup.blogspot.com / referral 6 1.83 00:03:58 16.67% 83.33%
22. yahoo / organic 6 3.17 00:02:08 83.33% 50.00%
23. blogs.thanetfinder.com / referral 5 1.40 00:01:48 80.00% 80.00%
24. tiscali.co.uk / referral 4 1.00 00:00:00 75.00% 100.00%
25. ademdjemil.co.uk / referral 3 1.67 00:00:21 66.67% 66.67%
26. images.google.com / referral 3 8.33 00:00:23 100.00% 33.33%
27. search / organic 3 1.67 00:01:27 100.00% 33.33%
28. search1.sky.com / referral 3 1.00 00:00:00 66.67% 100.00%
29. birchington.blogspot.com / referral 2 1.00 00:00:00 0.00% 100.00% 30. google.co.uk / referral 2 2.00 00:00:40 50.00% 50.00%