Sunday, June 21, 2009

Ramsgate's Bog Event

I'm referring, of course, to yet another public khazi closed due to cutbacks by our incompetent council. This now-inconvenient convenience stands at the eastern end of the, er, leisure facility known as the Never-Ending Pleasurama Eyesore, just before you get to the Car Park Of Fun. Further along, you can marvel at the Demolished Grade II Listed Marina Restaurant, and then proceed to the EU-Funded Dogging Facility That Used To Be A Magnificent Swimming Pool. I'll add this one to the definitive done-for dunnie list I'm compiling, which I'll publish next week.

Meanwhile it's heartwarming to know that an estimated £100,000 of your hard-earned sovs have been spent this weekend staging an exhibition of joystick jockeys flying round in circles over at Palm Bay. Margate's Big Event has had the presumably unintended consequence of dragging most of the people who would have been spending dosh on the island's towns and beaches to a windswept, roped off area of clifftop grassland. Where they will instead spend their money with burger vendors from Neasden and hot cock roll sellers from Sevenoaks.

Of course, I much prefer the thrill of seeing a Lancaster circling our island, or the sight of a Typhoon at full throttle, to the usual knackered old crates that blight the place. And presumably some cash will have been generated through landing fees at Chas 'n' Dave Margate International Airport, unless they used Sarfend. Which fees will naturally return to the local economy... of Wellington, New Zealand!

27 comments:

Don Wood said...

How nice you are ECR going to all the trouble of compiling a definative list for the area where one can go and contemplate how to have a wizzz now the facilities are no more. PeRhaps the council will include in future tourist guides so visitors can be fully aware when the visit the area of the best and worst area to get taken short.

Anonymous said...

Remind me why I have stayed by Ramsgate Harbour for a week for the last two years? Should I cancel my Aug 2009 booking and go to Hastings? Sevenoak's residents own deli shops not deli vans!

Anonymous said...

ECR, you're full of shit unlike the toilets in the Harbour. What are you saying, don't hold something like the Big Event because it'll take money out of the area to a burger van retailer in Sevenoaks? Next you'll want us to flood the Wansum channel and procreate with our closest relatives....again.

Richard Eastcliff said...

What I am saying is that I would prefer to see my council tax prioritised on cleaning up the ever-increasing amounts of shit on the streets and keeping basic visitor facilities like toilets open, rather than blowing it on a two day jamboree for Margate which was probably only attended by Thanetians, and which was therefore effectively money hoovered out of the local economy by visiting vendors, since everywhere I went over the weekend was reporting a lack of trade due to Margate's Big Event.

Basic facilities are one of the things that keep visitors returning to a tourism area. They only come one day a year for a Big Event.

And the next time you have half a mind to call me 'full of shit', do try and remember that half a mind is in all likelihood an exaggeration where you're concerned.

Anonymous said...

couldnt agree more - what do DFLs think every monday when they wake up to the mess on the streets in Ramsgate, do they tell their acquaintances - dont bother buying a house here it's full of rubbish?never mind what those think getting off the ferry "lets leave this island ASAP its full of detritus!"
Its all part of SEs plot to say "i was such a wonderful council leader i put on such a good free event please vote for me again" (even if i had to put it on free/ paid by taxpayers in 2009 becauseI couldnt risk the flak again of getting me mates to sponsor it!)

Anonymous said...

Airshows just piss jet fuel up the wall. Very bad for the environment indeed.

What are the council thinking?

I think the £100k would better spent on distributing the wheelie bins that TDC have already bought and have been sitting in Ramsgate port for the past year. Then we wouldn't have all the shit everywhere

fred said...

I hope this doesn't jepodise the Blue Flag award.

Anonymous said...

Bread and circuses. Keep the masses distracted while Thanet burns.

Linda said...

Walked to the Big 'yawn' event to see what the fuss was about. Well if you had bottomless pockets you were in luck. I for one am too old for the all the throw you about rides but what was there left for me to do? Talk to the lady at the Southern Water stand, who gave me a patronising Tea Towel!, be pushed by the Britelite lady who wanted me to buy some double glazing! Feed me till I exploded on hot dogs, burgers etc. which I wouldn't eat after seeing how they were cooking and storing them! Watching the grass being torn up by the go karts, still it will give someone a job to repair. The endless Police, Security and cleaners that were hanging around (mostly doing nothing) was disgusting......we all know you can't get your roads clean for love nor money... where did they rent the mob from? Or was it just a chance overtime scam! No programmes to be seen, but know that a lot were printed....why didn't they have people going round selling them? At least we might have had some idea if anything was going to happen that might be interesting. Yes I saw one plane on what I believe was a trial before the afternoon.......but the rest of the time it was just the helicopters buzzing up and down raking in the money....£30 for 5 minutes and there was a queue!! Well it might be Margate's Big Event but at what cost....all the stands selling food etc were from away, the fun fair not local, all we seemed to do is pay for these Cleaners and security who were obviously treating it as a day out!

Lil~Miss~Lunatic said...

They were selling programmes by the road for 75p each, I had several thrust in my face as I attempted to get to my friends house opposite all of the rides...

Anonymous said...

The irony of aircraft exhaust obscuring the sight of the half built wind farm off Ramsgate was lost on you then.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Lil mis L. Comment not aimed at you.

An irresponsible waste of money.
The Big Vent

Anonymous said...

I think most fair minded and reasonable people would recognise that the Big Event was an outstanding success - yet again.

But then your readers aren't fair minded or reasonable are they ECR? And Thanet isn't wallowing in filth laid down by the council, it is dropped or allowed to be distributed by similarly lacking fair minded and reasonable people who live in the areas concerned.

So get a life, and be a positive influence rather than the negative and pathetic specimens that you clearly are.

Anonymous said...

The irony of aircraft exhaust obscuring the sight of the half built wind farm off Ramsgate was lost on you too then 3.24pm.

Richard Eastcliff said...

Yes, that's right 3:24pm, blame the council's ineptitude on the people who drop the stuff. 'Twas ever thus!

Have you not stopped to consider that people litter because the place already looks like a tip?

And the Big Event 'an outstanding success'? Not much evidence of that from what I've heard.

Anonymous said...

Poor reasoning ECR. People litter because they have no social values or sense of responsibility. And making excuses for them is a socialist disease. It is no coincidence that Labour wards are among the filthiest in the district.

Anonymous said...

Well, I live in a Tory ward and it's nothing to write home about so that argument doesn't hold water.

Linda said...

Addressed to 3.24........... we are complaining about the complete waste of OUR money being used to line the pockets of non islanders. The Big Event is OK I suppose if you are less than 40, have a nice cosy job paying the sort of money where you can afford to pay for the very expensive rides/stalls, Drink like fish, gannet food etc.
Things like refuse bins are needed to stop our local towns looking like refuse tips. I am lucky and have bins now, but before that when the gulls were attacking all the time, I was told by the Council to double bag or use 'better quality' rubbish bags. Is this the right solution to a problem?
I must admit that I do object to the amount of aviation fuel passed into the air during this event, but it is nothing compared to the rubbish dropped on us by TDC !!!!

Anonymous said...

All this talk of cr*pp*rs and aircraft...reminds me of good old Khazi Airways who were going to create thousands of jobs flying Margate's sh*t from Manston to the Middle East to avoid the problem of where to build the treatment works. The scheme was going to create thousands of jobs and was going to regenerate East Kent. However, it came to grief when our glorious leader struck a deal to have all of Margate's sewage pumped over to Ramsgate for treatment. He said there was a historical precedent for Margate dumping a load of cr*p on Ramsgate.

Richard Eastcliff said...

Sorry pea-brain (5:45pm), but you only have to look at Westwood Cross to see how your ludicrous arguments have me rolling on the floor laughing!

WX is spotless. People there don't throw litter because it is kept spotless, and there are security patrols. It is run by a company, who would presumably chime in with your evidently Blue Rinse ideals, yet they have clearly worked out that litter breeds more litter.

Thanet's town centres are also run by Tories, your beloved nincompoops at the council. But they are not kept spotless, or regularly patrolled by the rozzers (plastic or otherwise), and consequently people treat them like a landfill.

In fact the worst offenders in my experience are the white van men who pull up, empty their ashtrays and plastic bottles in the gutter that is already overflowing with crap, then piss off. They are Maggie and Norman's love-children, brought up on a diet of 'responsibility' to themselves and themselves alone, and you know it.

As for 'social values', wasn't it Her Swivel-Eyedness herself who proclaimed 'There is no such thing as society'? So you've only got yourself to blame there.

Anonymous said...

Come on ECR. You spend more on Krug in a night than you do on TDC Council Tax for a year. You get what you pay for. 200 quid gets you half clean streets, half cut grass, all the other things the council has to do and 2 fingers from Sandy the Zeke. If we want more then we'll have to pay for it - as we undoubtedly will once GOD and his cronies get their grubby hands on the levers.

Richard Eastcliff said...

I'd gladly pay more to see Ramsgate spic and span. And I'm sure I'm not the only one round here. But, you see, none of the parties will promise better services for a little more council tax because it's hardly a vote winner, is it?

Or is it? If GO'D and his cronies clean the place up, 37 quid a year, or whatever it's going to cost, is a bargain. And people voted for it. 'Nuff said!

On the other hand, if we had a better run TDC and the sweepie-uppy guys and bin men were properly managed, the services might improve without spending an extra penny! (Apart from the ones the sweepie-uppy guy in Cliftonville spends on people's walls, that is.)

Anonymous said...

So tell us what you know about managing people ***t head. Haven't noticed that your motivational skills have encouraged the politicians to improve much.

Lil~Miss~Lunatic said...

I don't let my son walk when we're in a town centre round here, I either pick him up or keep him in the buggy, the pavements are just too filthy and he falls over a lot (he's only learning to walk, bless 'im!) I agree that litter breeds litter, the sheer fact that the roadsweepers were stopped from cleaning down Augusta Road in Ramsgate last year (whether it was only for a short time or not I'm unsure) really proves that it's both the council and the towns inhabitants that all need a good prod up the jacksie in my opinion. If the council allowed and enforced proper street sweeping then maybe people would be less inclined to just drop their litter on the floor, it's a case of setting a good example for the slow of thinking that reside around here.

Richard Eastcliff said...

Not my motivational skills that are in question here, c***eyes (6:04pm). More those of Mark Seed (TDC head of crap removal), and Brian White (TDC head of regeneration, planning and generally buggering things up).

Anonymous said...

Westwood Cross is immaculate because the management company employs cleaners who are there all the time. The bins are emptied and are sited in sensible places like next to the benches. In addition I don't recall seeing dogs who in my opinion are among the major creators of mess when their owners don't clean-up after them.

Even on a windy day and we get plenty of those here, there's never litter lying around because anything that gets dropped gets picked up straight away.

I walked through one of our parks yesterday and what did I see? Rubbish everywhere because no-one takes responsibility for keeping these places clean. It's ok for Cllr. Moores and other community-minded people to have a clean-up (I do if folk drop rubbish outside my house)but town centres, public parks, alleyways, pavements are the responsibility of the council.

Yes, I know people shouldn't drop litter and it's anti-social but it happens so it's got to be dealt with.

Pete Pissaro said...

I heard this building is to be turned into an art venue, there's plenty of funding for that.