Cheers!
So, we’re almost in London, but not quite. We will spend tonight and tomorrow night here in Ramsgate and then move on to an anchorage about 44 miles from London. We have to be in London around the middle of the day because that’s when the lock on the Thames into St. Catherine’s Dock is open for the few hours each day. You have to be there when it’s open…or you’re up S**t’s Creek instead of into the St. Cats’ Lock on the Thames River. But I’m sure Captain Randal will get us where we need to be when we need to be there. Our passages along the coast of England have certainly been much better than our passages to England.
We have more boat drama to deal with tomorrow, but hopefully we’ll be able to see some of Ramsgate.
Ru
Morning in Eastbourne
The expresslube guys, Chris and Gavin began work on DoraMac 8 AM Wednesday morning and worked until 5 PM. But more work needed to be done so Gavin would return noon Thursday. I’d already walked into every shop in the Sovereign Harbour area and the ASDA several times, so thought I’d catch the bus into Eastbourne and explore. The bus stop was just near the ASDA so that was easy. A lovely British couple was waiting for the bus so they told me where I needed to get off in the Town Centre and where I needed to get back on; in front of the McDonalds. Among other things, Eastbourne is a seaside resort town and dozens of hotels and B&B’s line the road along the coast. But my favorite were the dozen or so “charity shops” in town as well as the huge, packed to the rafters and over the stairways Camilla’s bookshop. Not only is there Oxfam, but the Marie Curie nurses, the animal welfare and bunches of others have charity shops as well. And then, for good or ill, not sure yet, I saw Celly’s £9.90 hair shop. Any number of services for a fixed price: no appointment, wait your turn. My feelings about hair cutting is this; other than Sarah back in Roanoke, it’s always a real crap shoot and ever since the Philippines, a good haircut ( for less than a zillion $$ ) is hard to find and even then I paid the most money ever for a really awful haircut in Philadelphia. But I really had too much hair so took a chance. Randal does a great job trimming an inch or so of the bottom, but he doesn’t thin it. Some of the bulk just needed to go so I opted for trimming/thinning. The young woman was very sweet, from the Netherlands and from what she said, I think a bit homesick for her family. Anyway, I told her I wanted to be able to pull it back but that it needed an inch or two off and some thinning. After the first cut I knew I’d made a length mistake. Oh well; it will grow. Then I caught the bus home. Funny enough Sovereign Harbor is a big destination point so lots of folks got off too so I didn’t have to guess when to hit the STOP button.
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Something about the Langham Hotel says Agatha Christie to me. Though I guess it really was Bertram’s Hotel and not Langham as the mystery was called At Bertram’s Hotel. |
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I was on a regular bus both ways with a closed top. |
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Big hotels and small B&B’s lined the road across from the waterfront…smart idea rather than building on the sea side and messing up the view. Langston’s had a NO VACANCY sign. |
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Oxfam Book Shop Lots of charity shops supporting a variety of agencies. I bought something from 3 of them: YMCA, Oxfam, and Animal Welfare. |
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Camilla’s Books : www.camillasbookshop.com |
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Hundreds of book, thousands of books, million and trillions and billions of books! Camilla was back behind the stack somewhere. |
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Next stop the Tea Shop : formerly Bumper Bookshop for Boys and Girls https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Bumper-Bookshop/72096453564 http://www.hive.co.uk though they have now moved somewhat away from the book part and more into the tea shop part. Kindle seems to be a culprit in the decision especially for their teenage market. The link from their old site to the new isn’t working yet. But if you are in Eastbourne, it’s 35 Grove Road between the Library and Camilla’s. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk has rave reviews and I agree. Warm, welcoming, cheerful, delightful and that describes the two women who run? Own? The shop. |
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I went home with one of the raisin scones and a piece of amazing chocolate biscuit cake! to share with Randal. |
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Cappuccino and a book! A lovely break in my travels around Eastbourne. |
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I believe this is Mrs .Doaks of the Mr. and Mrs. Doak’s Bumper Bookshop. |
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And this kind lady whose name I don’t know, made my wonderful cappuccino. |
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The Eastbourne Public Library! |
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Duh! I still can’t remember which way to looks so am grateful for the signs! |
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Eastbourne treasures London : City of Disappearances by Iain Sinclair from Camilla’s It’s an odd book, but I think I’ll at least like the East End chapter. “Balancing this, though, are some truly wonderful choices, instinctively themed to flow from section to section, often with recurring characters and events. Lost Yiddish poets and writers of the East End have their worlds lovingly recreated, as the hard lives of Stencl and Litvinoff are described by Rachel Lichtenstein and Patrick Wright in essays that capture not only their daily braveries, but the sense of enrichment they brought to London life. Kathi Diamant provides an account of her relative Dora’s absurd arrest as an alien, following the House of Lords’ wartime decision that "women spies are much more dangerous than men", and caps it with an exhilarating graveside conclusion. While Jewish lives were crucial to the character of the East End, vocational booksellers kept literature alive in the West End. Michael Moorcock unearths an evocative account of a life lost to pulps, comics and literary mysticism, while others recall working days passed in shops like Better Books and the legendary Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed SF store, late of Berwick Street, buried behind the market stalls.” Reading in Bed by Sue Gee One night I went out to dinner with two very old friends,’ she explains. ‘And, as I watched them walking away in the pouring rain, a line came into my head: “There they go, two clever women of 60, making their way through the wet towards the car.” I came home, wrote the line down, and thought to myself, “Maybe I can do something with this.”’ (it certainly hooked me for obvious reasons.) That line, the image of two women in the rain, became the opening sentence of Reading In Bed. It’s a hugely ambitious book, a story of youth and old age; marriage and fidelity (and infidelity); caring for an ageing relative; concern for wayward children, and – inevitably, given Sue’s recent experiences – illness and bereavement. ‘It’s about how life subverts even our best-laid plans,’ says Sue. ‘How we have to continually question our own cosy assumptions.’ ….but she keeps in touch with her rural roots by regularly visiting her cottage near the literary town of Hay-on-Wye in the Welsh borders – where the opening scene of Reading In Bed is set. (Years ago I read the book Sixpence House by Paul Collins about Hay-on-Wye and definitely want to visit.) Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ Two cute pitchers, the larger one says Biltons Made in England in raised letters. Total cost of both at two different charity shops £1.50. The other seems to have a paper label that says Trekers International Labin and I’ve no clue about it but bor £.50 (50 p) it only has to be useful and cute. http://www.thepotteries.org/photo_wk/156.htm West End Village on the corner of London Road and Corporation Street, Stoke Built on the site of the former Bilton Pottery Works, the complex offers assisted living – it was opened in January 2011. The real British scone and decadent chocolate biscuit cake are from the Tea Shop (formerly Bumper Bookshop.) |
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Celly International feedback@celly.co.uk for your comments Definitely needs “products” of some sort. |
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And locks of another kind… Sovereign Marina Locks…some additional explanation. “there are slots just onside each gate on each lock. Every so often the rubbers on the gates have to be replaced so there is not too much water flow when the gates are closed. Then only one lock is working and there is often some congestion.” This is from Bill Harrell whom we met on the work dock at the marina. He was with his buddy who owns a fishing charter boat. Bill’s originally from South Carolina so was great fun to speak with. He read my comment about the locks and added this info in an email to me. Actually either lock can be an entry or exit lock; it just depends on what’s happening. |
