There were more ancient hairpieces and walking sticks than you could shake a, er, walking stick at on Ramsgate's Harbour Parade for the Operation Dynamo 70th celebrations this afternoon!As you can see from my photo, it was nice of our beloved council to recreate the bomb blasted ambiance of Dunkirk 1940 for the vets. And the farty waft of leaky colostomy bags can only have added to the authenticity of the occasion.
Those that could move were moving at snail's pace, so slow poking was the order of the day as the old tugs queued up for trips around our very own old tug, the newly painted Cervix, and the Maritime Museum (open, one presumes, for one day only). Disappointment, though, showed on their wrinkled faces as they peered skyward at the appointed hour for the Spitfire and Swordfish flypast, which was a no show. At least, I think it was disappointment. It was hard to tell as most visages were rigid with Parkinson's.
Still, on the plus side I'm glad to report that our newly elevated Tory leader, Councillor Bob Baywatch, had trimmed his face fuzz and ironed his suit especially!
54 comments:
ECR have you looled at Paul Francis of KM latest posting?
It appears Bertie was on the money when he described the future dealings of EKO. It`s nice to know a firm run by councillors can be bailed out by the same for their benefit.
In this age of tight budgets KCC/TDC seems to be flogging a dead horse using our money.
Take a loook
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/510b/id15
htmhttp://www.michaelsbookshop.com/510b/id16.htm
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/510b/id17.htm
Richard bit sorry took over 400 pictures of it al goin on today but failed wif de links
The picture shows the appalling state of workmanship that is (apparently) acceptable to TDC. It is a Bank holiday weekend. Any roadworks whould have been completed and the road reinstated before the weekend starts. The previous hole in this road was there for weeks. It was a ten minute job to fill it in and an hour or so to put back the brick surface. Somehow TDC thinks it is acceptable to leave an unsightly hole in the road rather than getting it tidied up. I'm afraid that this all goes to the heart of the matter; the low standards of Council officers and the virtually non-existent scrutiny provided by the umpteen Councillors for whom we all pay through the nose.
Not to mention the fact that the little ship Sundowner is not able to take part tomorrow due to a dispute with TDC and that the dregders were still working right up to lunchtime today - I wasn't surprised that most of today's visitors were elderly - after all they lived through WWII - but it was lovely to see the town so full of visitors and all the cafes busy.
Well - the fumes from the crater must have been hallucinogenic, as that flash=back of a Spitfire (I think) buzzing the harbour at about 4.30 seemed very real to me...
Anon 7:32 Here here I can remember when road works were unacceptable behaviour for Bank Holidays. Now our council doesn't care
anon again!
A Hurricane today, a Spitfire tomorrow (Thursday) over the Harbour.
We should not criticise too much, but rather remember what those poor chaps went through 70 years ago. This is, after all, what this 'celebration' is all about.
TDC could have filled in the hole until next week though - cretins.
Damn shame about the Sundowner, apparently mainly due to some tdc officer Mike Marsh!!! who did the original agreement with the SMT. Apparently he is a sho in for the new job of commercial manager at the port, something to do with favours owed etc. who said there isn't free competition with in tdc, if your face fits and you have the right hand shake the jobs yours. Apparently the give away is when you go in for interview with your trouser leg rolled up.
Gosh am I a cynic ( no i think realist is the word)
Come on be serious, TDC could not be that stupid, he has never worked in a port and doesn't know a LO-LO from a RO-RO, but a nod and a wink and a pint of the best and i'll let you have a dodgy lease which will never be ratified.
Where is this commercial manager cominig from talking down the old bull and bush with the accountant in the know, London array have 1/3 of the port, Thanet Offshore AKA vatenfall have a 1/3 port bretts have some and are itching to pour concrete, transeuropa have the rest, so a new commercial manger will sit on his A**e and do nothing... oh you mean he works for TDC in Margate.....enuff said.
Hmmm not sure there is enough respect being shown with regards to colostomy bags and parkinsons. I get your humour but its in bad taste. My father was a POW and died in 2002 at 82. In the hell of a freezing Polish winter on one evening during a very long march he tended to sick parade, from his diary "I try to act as doctor to 3000 screaming patients, six of our men die in the night". "Reach Buldenburg in less than 24 hours through severe blizzard, lost 5 comrades, when will we come out of this white hell?" You see what I mean?
Well really!
You moan when planes fly over, you moan when they don't!
There's just no pleasing you is there, Dicky?
Anon 1.25
ECR is not consistent in his notions of humour propriety.
For example if I were to tell this old gag:
"The Romany goes to the doctor. The doctor asks have you ever paid into the NHS have you ever paid national insurance. The Romany replies that the founding principle of the NHS is care free at the point of need and that he resnts being ethnically stereotyped. The doctor, ever fearful of the PC Brigade, agrees and determines that the Romany has a bad case of flatulence. And prescribes some medicine for a Gippo Tummy. He prescribes physio and advises the Romany he may find it taxing at first. Tax your van said the doctor you'll feel better. But the Romany declined the chance to buy a piece of the doctor's lucky heather"
Inexplicably ECR may be having a day on which he does not find that funny in the least.
Good morrow Loosely
There are occasions for having a laugh and others for showing respect. This is the latter and the veterans gathered in Ramsgate certainly deserve respect, not cheap jokes at their physical decline in old age.
Sadly there are commentators on this page who lack standards, never know where to draw the line and cross that of decency in pursuit of their endless vendetta against the TDC. Time and a place, chaps!
Indeed Rock
Its a pity TDC did not find time to hoist a few appropriate flags from public flag poles/masts.
Presentation is every thing!!!!
Malcolm
Well that wasn't actually very funny there, was it Rick?
As for 'respect' and 'bad taste', my 89 year old grandfather who did fight in the war and does, coincidentally, suffer from Parkinon's, considers the Dunkirk 'celebrations' bad taste, seeing as they're based on wartime propaganda which had to spin an ignominious defeat into some kind of magnificent victory. His view is that the higher ups cocked up and let their men down horribly, and he doesn't want a bar of it.
The thought of him having to sit in his wheelchair on a cold day for two hours waiting for the fly by, which was meant to happen at 2.30, doesn't bear thinking about either.
With regard to the port's new 'commercial manager', word on the pontoons is that he's a mate of the council's Director of Regeneration and Chief Executive, and that he needed a job. From TDC consultant with no prior knowledge of his bow from his stern to a cushy number running a port is nice work if you can get it in these parlous economic times.
Still, it's good to see the 'higher ups' can still make rubbish decisions!
The Mayor of Dunkirk proudly stated his town had been preparing for this for a year on BBC news last night.
With dredging happening 'til the 11th hour and still a beach visible inside the harbour from the skycam today, the hole in the road thats been there for months, the sundowner on dry land, it seems TDC started work Friday afternoon.
I like the fact national/International news, TV and written, were crawling all over town, yet TDC have been whisper quient with the advertising.
Should we really expect anything else?
ECR, with due respect to your grandfather, the rank and file, of necessity well away from the decision making process, invariably blame the hierarchy for set backs. Yes, Dunkirk represented a defeat in that battle but the incredible operation launched to bring our army home to fight another day contributed in no small part to the ultimate victory in the war.
By the way, my uncle was in the 'ring' around the beaches amongst those units that remained to delay the German advance. They all were killed or captured so that the others could get home.
I don't disagree that TDC could have done more to prepare for this anniversary and present the town in its best light to our visitors.
Just don't rate the poking of fun at the veterans themselves. Some, like your grandfather it would seem, prefer to forget whilst others derive something from the nostalgia of these anniversaries. To each his own and don't knock it.
Whats all this about a commercial manager. Surely a job has to be advertised, and isn't there an audit department that oversees things like that.
Hopefully the new leader of the council will put paid to any nonsense or cronyism.
Hahahahahahahahahaha... haha... hahahaha... ha... ha
Oh, sorry, I just read that last comment!
And Mr Rock, it's my blog and I'll poke fun at whatever or whoever I want, thanks.
Sack Brian White. Sack Mike Marsh. Sack Richard Samuel. Sack everyone who was involved in the Sundowner disgrace.
PS: Simon Moores who is now cabinet member in charge of the marina should be sacked too.
Richard, don't dispute it is your blog or your democratic right to poke fun. Just don't go much on your taste on this occasion.
Fair enough. Now feck off. As Frankie Boyle said to the heckler.
Oh the irony, a weight load on the Princes Mary landing stage and well overloaded!!!!!
Anyone notice the state of the emergency generator and the same condition of the shower toilet/bocks which are appalling.
Anyone who wishes to look, just put in 15:20 in the old time piece?
Marsh-Gas is there a similarity?
Will someone put a sock in the Rock. He's boring the pants off me. Got to be a Council stooge.
Anon, 5:33, I really could not care less if I am boring you and as for asking someone to put a sock in the Rock, why don't you try it yourself, hero? Also, if you bothered to read I have been calling for some respect for the Dunkirk veterans which has sod all to do with the TDC and more the disparaging remarks in some comments on this item.
Rock, I do wish you would stop saying "I couldn't care less" about other people's opinions. It seems to be one of your favoured reactions and displays the same lack of respect that you are challenging here. If you come on these blogs, you will inevitably encounter many views that differ from your own. Please stop displaying such appalling arrogance to those who express them.
Mr. Eastcliff. It is your blog. You seem not to care whom you insult and whilst your Grandfather may have Parkinsons and think Dunkirk commemorations are in bad taste, ridiculing people under these circumstances who are aged is not reasonable. Go ahead and 'poke fun at whatever or whoever' you want. I hope you'll never have to stand chest deep in cold water being shot at, bombed, terrified by the scream of Heinkels dive bombing you and losing your mind, T.R.
Anon, 7:45, I really do not expect every one to share my views and it would be pretty boring if they did. What I do object to though is personal attacks without reference to the subject under discussion. "Will someone put a sock in the Rock. He is boring me," is not a debating point or a particular view on any subject. Indeed, if anything, it is the denial of my right to an opinion. It is playground level name calling rather than adult debate.
OK, let me spell it out.
1. None of you paid to get in here. This is not a newspaper or the BBC. You have no right to complain to the PCC or the BBC Trust. Tough titty.
2. I don't get paid to write this bilge. I have invented a fictional character, Eastcliff Richard, and write as such to amuse myself. If it amuses or informs you lot, then that's a bonus. But fundamentally my mission statement is purely onanistic.
3. I am not a councillor pedalling his or her particular political crap. So I couldn't give a monkey's how many of the Thanet electorate I piss off.
4. None of you (are you paying attention Mr Rock?) have a 'right to an opinion' here. This is not Speakers' bloody Corner. You are all welcome to express an opinion, but remember that it's courtesy of me putting up with you.
Finally, may I draw your attention to the disclaimer at the bottom of this blog:
Eastcliff Richard is a humour/satire/local gossip blog based on the Isle of Thanet in Kent. Opinions expressed on this site may not be suitable for minors, wilting flowers, or duffers.
If I might just quote from the Google page on inputting "Eastcliff Richard" it states "Eastcliff Richard is an opinion based blog. If you disagree with something you read, feel free to leave a comment to that effect."
That, surely, constitutes an invitation to participate. You cannot then, save removing the offensive, do the "it's my bat and you can't play bit." Unless, of course, you only want opinions that match your own wherein you should perhaps change part of the invitation to "if you agree with something you read." Otherwise foxtrot oscar!
anon again!
Gentlemen please. ORDER!
Eastcliff Richard has and runs a very good blog.
Please don't spoil it by creating silly differences by airing your biased opinions.
Too many other bloggers have taken umbridge and closed their sites. We wouldn't want that to happen would we. (?)
Hi ECR,
Please ban the Rock. He's a complete tw*t and it makes my blood boil every time I read the twaddle he posts. Nobody could possibly post what he does without being paid to do it. He doesn't express any kind of personal opinion. It's all politically correct claptrap.
I think I speak for the population at large when I say that we are all fed up with politically correct claptrap. We want to know what people stand for and we want people to express themselves openly.
The Rock must spend 10 hours a day posting twaddle on Thanet blogs, yet you wouldn't have a clue what he is for or against. It's all points of procedure etc. Please ban this t*ss*r and show him (and his paymasters) that we are fed up with people who want to manipulate and control public opinion.
I'm sorry Mr Rock, but you can't tell me to fuck off on my own blog. I, on the other hand, can tell you to fuck off, so please take this comment as official notification (again) of the aforementioned directive.
Any future comments by you will be deleted as soon as I see them. Cheerio.
That's it Mr Rock. Do the decent thing and fall on your sword!
Blogger doesn't cater for barring individuals from commenting on a blog.
Even if it did, a good deal of ISP's issue dynamic IP addresses to their users (your unique address when using the internet, which, incidentally, can be easily identified by a blog owner, even if you visit without commenting, and often is), but this (because it's dynamic) will change every time you log on with your ISP (reset your router, in current currency).
Most people don't do that too often, rendering them less anonymity than they might think. That knowledge ought to cheer up the sad, wanky anonophobes (minor celebrity/understanding/consequence Peewee and his chums), if only they weren't so sad and wanky that they'd ever be able to work out how to do it, even with the appropriate software and instructions.
So it would be fairly useless if Blogger did cater for it.
The only option is to turn of commenting altogether.
Some consideration and sympathy should be given to The Rock, and his like, as, being retired (no longer of any use to society in old AND new currency), his options are limited to griping at things, with no real sense of purpose or mission other than griping.
Same would go for the unemployed and people who either hate, or are useless, at their jobs, I would think.
I know, in my heart, that when *I* retire, they'll probably legalise euthanasia within six months.
Dammit, did you spot my deliberate mistake, there? :-)
Have you been on the grog again Lucy?
...griping at things, with no real sense of purpose or mission other than griping. Same would go for the unemployed and people who either hate, or are useless, at their jobs, I would think.
You seem to have described me to a 'T' there!
What a shame about the Rock. As one who normally only reads blogs and never comments I quite enjoyed his input. At least it opened up debate and, far from being politically correct, I would suggest he was the complete opposite. PC is normally associated with the left, hardly the Rock's position in the political spectrum.
Not really sweetie, no. Just had one of those days, trying to deal with people that are obviously a bit sensitive to global tidal deceleration, coupled with a full Moon, this close to a bank holiday.
So I was having trouble sleeping, is all.
Please feel free to read this, if it helps to lend some insight.
I didn't bar Mr Rock for his political views, Mr Bluenote. I'm actually quite tolerant that way, as long as people don't mind running the gauntlet of my, er, rapier wit!
The mistake he made was questioning the way I run my blog. You wouldn't go into a pub and berate the landlord for the way he's running it without expecting to be chucked out, would you?
As for your link there Lucy, I haven't had enough of the good stuff yet this morning to understand it!
I think visits to this blog will soar now that it can be advertized as a "Rock-free zone." If only we could get rid of the sycophantic Bluenote......who appears to be well-versed (or should that be well-briefed?)on where the Rock's political views lie and implies he is a right-winger. Which Tory would give himself a title like Rock?
Well my goodness, 8:00 AM, I make my first ever comment on these pages and I am instantly sycophantic in your view. Talk about off the cuff character assassination.
Sadly, I have neither the time or the energy to contribute much to these pages but when I do I shall be interested in your response.
Here's to a happy relationship!
I miss the Rock. Every blog should have one.
There are so many things in the world to comment on....and Bluenote's first ever comment is to lament the departure of The Rock. Do me a favour, you Tory pratt. Go and infest another blog. preferably one I don't read.
Incredible how swiftly some folk take umbrage. I lament the passing of Rock, as have two other commentators, make no reference to anything remotely political and instantly some courageous soul who hides behind his Anonymous status labels me a 'Tory Pratt.'
Probably the same contributor who earlier suggested that comments to this blog would soar now it is a Rock free zone. Well this last one in which Rock has made a contribution reach fifty comments and the best of several since has reached just fifteen. Perhaps some people like the alternative view point to get debate going!
Anonymous hides behind anonymous. Bluenote hides behind Bluenote. His second posting is no more informative than his first. Come on Bluenote, give us an opinion on something....anything. You do have an opinion, don't you?
My opinion in this case was that when a lively debate is going it seemed a shame to ban one of the contributors. Taking the wider content of the article, I support the events to mark the anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation, think it a shame TDC could not have sorted the hole in the road out beforehand and likewise that the Sundowner could not take part. On this issue there is not much else to have an opinion about. Give me another subject and, if I have time and the inclination, I will give you the privilege of my thoughts.
In the meantime you really should get something from the doc for you acute case of toryphobia. It can do harm to your blood pressure!
What do you think about the twattish Councillorts who are supposed to represent the area but failed to ensure that the hole was filled in? It's no good saying it's a shame. The situation is a situation of the Council's making and it could have been dealt with.
Seem to recall Bernard Cribbens singing about councils' holes some thirty plus years ago. They have always been around and, yes, they must be down to the councillors though which ones could be the million dollar question. TDC ones or Kent ones when it comes to highways and byways? However, if shame is not strong enough for you, I think someones ass should be kicked for leaving that one there for that day.
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