The photo above was taken by me on Wednesday evening, just as it was getting dark. The ship came alongside and moored on Erith Pier, next to Morrison's car park. Three crew members then alighted and disappeared into Morrison's. Twenty minutes later they were back with a large load of groceries in shopping bags. Shortly thereafter they untied the vessel and sailed off down the river. That is going shopping in style! Click on the photo above for a larger version.Since last weeks' Blog posting, concerning the sudden and mysterious appearance of a new nightclub in a run down warehouse building in Fraser Road, Erith, there have been developments. I contacted Bexley Council planning enforcement team early this week, and also spoke to Linda Piper, chief reporter for the News Shopper local paper. It turns out the owner of the nightclub is managing to skirt just on the right side of the law; you can read an article about the club on the News Shopper website.
Over the last three months or so, I have received a series of increasingly strident letters from the Gas Board, telling me that they need to change my gas meter. I have no troubles with this, as my meter is located outside the front door, and they could come and do it whilst I am out at work. But no, they insist I am on the premises, and that they will deign to turn up "at some point between 8am and 8pm". Yeah... Right. Like I am going to take a day off work to wait for a gas board engineer, who, from previous experience would then not turn up. I am certainly not pandering to this kind of corporate fascism, so I am ignoring them altogether. I am following a principle established by Quentin Crisp that if you ignore something for long enough, it will eventually go away.
Click Here to listen to an excellent and extremely funny hour long interview with Billy Connolly - from back in 1989. He was talking to a U.S public service radio station KCRW and a presenter called Bob Claster, who is a real fan of British comedy.
I had the extreme misfortune to be stuck on the 99 bus from Plumstead with the worst overcrowding I have ever experienced on any bus anywhere. The driver seemed to be entirely oblivious and was allowing all and sundry to continue to board, despite already being packed to the gunwales. It certainly did not help that there were a total of seven baby buggies on the lower deck of the bus, four open and taking up almost all of the floor space, and three folded in the luggage area - this being despite the rule that any bus can only have two open buggies. One of the buggy owners had a toddler daughter who was hyperactively pushing her way through the forest of standing passengers legs, constantly shrieking, enough to seemingly break glass. The indifferent Chav mother was more interested in sending texts on her mobile phone , and making calls to her extended list of brood mates about the progress of Strictly Celebrity Wrestling on Ice in the Jungle, than looking after her offspring. Every couple of minutes she would look up from her mobile phone and half heartedly mutter "TeeaJoanna - stop that and come here now" - but the sprog blithely carried on screaming and playing about, and the mother returned to the digital valium of her mobile phone. Why do chavs give their offspring stupid, made up names? I think it started back in 1985 when the lower classes started to call female babies Kayleigh - after the Marillion track of the same name. I think the Stella addled brains of Chav mothers think the made up names sound "classy" when we all know they do exactly the opposite. Poor kids!
I have noticed that two Erith pubs both have their leases up for sale. The Nordenfelt has been closed and empty for several months now - its' location means there is no parking available, and the Victorian building is large, and difficult to maintain. The other pub is in my own road. The Royal Alfred is still open, but the lease is up for sale. I live in (probably vain) hope that a real ale brewer and pub company like Shepherd Neame, Fullers or Young's will take it on. I think, however that I am rather more likely to see Elvis riding Shergar down my street.
Steve Fraser MBE popped round to see me yesterday morning - we then went to visit my Dad in his nursing home. Really nice of Steve to make the time to do this, especially before the long and arduous journey back to the family seat in Somerset. I made sure he took a couple of bottles of Shepherd Neame Kentish real ale with him - after all, you probably can't trust the water in the provinces.
This weeks' video was taken by Ian on his mobile telephone, so the quality is a bit dodgy in parts to say the least - not his fault, the gadget was not really designed to operate in near darkness, as occurs in much of the piece. It is footage of Steve Fraser's pre MBE award party, held at the Robin Hood & Little John pub in Bexleyheath. Please feel free to leave a comment by clicking on the "Comments" link below.
I had the extreme misfortune to be stuck on the 99 bus from Plumstead with the worst overcrowding I have ever experienced on any bus anywhere. The driver seemed to be entirely oblivious and was allowing all and sundry to continue to board, despite already being packed to the gunwales. It certainly did not help that there were a total of seven baby buggies on the lower deck of the bus, four open and taking up almost all of the floor space, and three folded in the luggage area - this being despite the rule that any bus can only have two open buggies. One of the buggy owners had a toddler daughter who was hyperactively pushing her way through the forest of standing passengers legs, constantly shrieking, enough to seemingly break glass. The indifferent Chav mother was more interested in sending texts on her mobile phone , and making calls to her extended list of brood mates about the progress of Strictly Celebrity Wrestling on Ice in the Jungle, than looking after her offspring. Every couple of minutes she would look up from her mobile phone and half heartedly mutter "TeeaJoanna - stop that and come here now" - but the sprog blithely carried on screaming and playing about, and the mother returned to the digital valium of her mobile phone. Why do chavs give their offspring stupid, made up names? I think it started back in 1985 when the lower classes started to call female babies Kayleigh - after the Marillion track of the same name. I think the Stella addled brains of Chav mothers think the made up names sound "classy" when we all know they do exactly the opposite. Poor kids!
I have noticed that two Erith pubs both have their leases up for sale. The Nordenfelt has been closed and empty for several months now - its' location means there is no parking available, and the Victorian building is large, and difficult to maintain. The other pub is in my own road. The Royal Alfred is still open, but the lease is up for sale. I live in (probably vain) hope that a real ale brewer and pub company like Shepherd Neame, Fullers or Young's will take it on. I think, however that I am rather more likely to see Elvis riding Shergar down my street.
Steve Fraser MBE popped round to see me yesterday morning - we then went to visit my Dad in his nursing home. Really nice of Steve to make the time to do this, especially before the long and arduous journey back to the family seat in Somerset. I made sure he took a couple of bottles of Shepherd Neame Kentish real ale with him - after all, you probably can't trust the water in the provinces.
This weeks' video was taken by Ian on his mobile telephone, so the quality is a bit dodgy in parts to say the least - not his fault, the gadget was not really designed to operate in near darkness, as occurs in much of the piece. It is footage of Steve Fraser's pre MBE award party, held at the Robin Hood & Little John pub in Bexleyheath. Please feel free to leave a comment by clicking on the "Comments" link below.
Oh dear, was the bus driver of non-English blood ?
ReplyDeleteThis would explain the problem.
Reg Varney was a real bus driver in his day ! Not forgetting Jack, the conductor of course.
As for 'chav's, the best thing is to give them a lethal injection, same as an ill/sick animal and put them out of their misery.
Why should vile scum be aloud to breed and we pay for it with our tax's ??
Stupid names like Shackle and Chantel are the nom these day's.
I guess the bus was packed because they were all rushing home to watch Come dancing/X-factor or I'm an ex-London mayor candidate, sodemey is a wonderful thing, get me out of here !!!
Mr.W