Jazzy D's Soul Notes

I was in Canterbury today to di another covert shop. As well as that, I also ook that sweater back to BRX that I paid nine quid for. Well, I got my money back, It did not fit me anyway, so I had my breakfast in the local Qwtherspoons pub there.

It was a very sunny day, if still very chilly with a biting wind. I'm glad I had some warm clothes on and a hat.

I arrived back in town just before two and met Ewart for a good number of drinks at my local pub, and he gave me my order for a genuine Kufiya from Hebron. This is the last kufiya maker still extant in Palestine.

Despite being a bit blustery it was a fine mild sunny day. I popped down to Canterbury and over to do a couple of pound shops and then Folkestone to do a cafe within a department store. I had a bit of a wait at Dover due to some accident on the main A2 and many of the busses were delayed.

So I did not arrive home till later than expected and thus had ham eggs and chips dinner at =ymy local pub. Great comfort food!

I have been watching a wonderful charming series based around Stratford on Avon. Home town of our famous bard, called Shakespeare and Hathaway - Private Investigators on the BBC. My bro  coming42 got me into it. So, to be or not to be, it is a great watch! Also, Stratford is such an old world place full of history.

Wagner's last opera - Parsifal - has some of the most wondrous music even if the story of the Grail is a bit naff in his interpretation of it. I have found a 4CD box set of the long opera for a fiver today.



I think this and The Ring are his best works by far.

After doing three jobs today and yet to do the reports I think I will have tomorrow off.

I walked into town to have a few beers and get some provisions. I drank a couple of pints at my local pub and then walked down to Tescos for some eggs. I made a mushroom omelet when I arrived back home.

However, I did find that somebody had left an almost brand new jacket in the common room for others to try and take. So I tried it on and it fits. I learn later whilst in the pub, it was Tim from upstairs who originally had the jacket. This is a quality Italian suede leather jacket and is lined inside.



Whilst in the pub I noticed some old Mods park across the street with their Lambrettas and parkas.



On the way to the supermarket, I noticed that the tea cosy gang had decorated the post boxes again. This time somebody had tied a champagne glass as well.



On the way walking home down West Street I noticed a figure in this shop window of furniture products. It was a beautiful cat looking at me and feeling very feline and displaying themselves.



That made my day.

Currently in the local Spoons pub waiting for Phil to arrive.

I am having a beer called Full Whack, which is a nice strong 6 per cent  ABV ale!

Visited Faversham and Canterbury today. Sunday lunch at the Leading Light for one of my companies and a charity shop visit in Canterbury.
 Had a very tasty roast lamb dish at the pub.

At the charity shop, after making a donation of old books i could nit sell anywhere else, i picked up two pieces of vinyl and a CD for three quid.

These are

Marvin Gaye - Midnight Love (CBS LP)
Sade - Promise (Epic LP)
Dixie Chicks - Home )Open Wide CD  + DVD limited edition)


Apart form a dull wet morning the rest of the day was quite mild and occasional sunshine.

As usual the weather became a big factor in what we did yesterday. I was going to go to Eastbourne, however GC had a mystery shop to do in the Langney area of the town ,and thus we sped off in that direction in the afternoon.

It was in the Sue Ryder chazzer that she bought a number of items for a fiver, including some books which I mostly chose, that is 3 books for two quid. They are -

David Toop - Haunted Weather (Serpents Tail)
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Bloomsbury)
Spooks, The Personnel Files (BBC Books)



Afterwards, we had a late lunch at A Toby Carvery. I treated GC to a meal .Good food but poor grumpy service. The Crown Carvery in Peacehaven is much better and cheaper.

During the early evening whilst I was watching the antiques programme  just before Eggheads, we had a brownout. The power cut lasted for over four hours and half of Seaford was affected by it. I even had a couple of pints in the pub (The Seven Sisters) at the top of the road in candle light. It was quite cosy in there with a few locals, and a couple of Old Speckled Hen beers.

Last night was Tim's birthday party at the Dover Castle Inn. He was given a bottle of whisky from Kate and Kev, and Phil supplied a mega cheese and biscuit selection with pate and other bits.

He was well drunk. I was the stoic cousin in arms making sure he got home safely. We both tried little Steve's lethal absinthe at 70 % proof! Silly sod downed in one. I just sipped at it.

Anyway , here is the embarrassing pictures from  my camera phone.



This is the aforementioned bottle of evilness.


Phil, Tracy and Ali



 Spot and Steve talking to Kev






This is what it looks like in a glass.



Spot talking to Zoe




Spot pointing at something





Tracy and Ali chatting




Tracy, Zoe and Ali being rude, lol!



The girls talking to Emily.

This morning I popped over to Faversham to get some cheap books to put on the Play Trade site for sale, whilst Spot caught a bus to Sittingbourne to get a new cat litter tray and some gourmet cat food as well. He arrived back before I did as I saw the shopping in the kitchen.

Picked up four books at 25p each from the Save The Children chazzer, and then went to the library.

On my return I found him in the Dover Castle again, after having a long session the previous night there, and that is after we completely finished a bottle of whisky between us! I watched TV but fell asleep at some point only to wake up about eleven twenty, so I watched Family Guy.

He did not roll in till after midnight, and promptly fell asleep in the chair. So the promised curry take away did not happen. Well he is back now,again asleep in the chair, so I reckon we will have curry tonight.

Last night cousin and I went up to the Dover Castle for the usual Wednesday evening chin wag with Phil. We braced the cool air again at around 2 am when we left the pub.

This afternoon I took a short trip to Rainham. I have not been to this small town before and found it a revelation for quality charity based book shops plus a real record shop. I could have spent all day rummaging through both the Sense charity shop, The Bookmark, and Sunburst Books. I actually found three Margaret Attwood books, one hardback for a quid from The Bookmark, and two paperbacks from Sunburst Books. Specifically “The Year Of The Flood”, “Bodily Harm” and “Lady Oracle “. From the Sense shop picked up three paperbacks for a quid.





I also had a quick gander in the record shop. Loads of cheap CD's and vinyl albums but too many to look at in the short time I was in the town. It was thirsty work so I had a quick pint at the Cricketers pub.





Definitely a town to revisit on another occasion and to spend a good day there.

Tuesday posted quite a lot of items from sales made from Discogs, Play and Ebay. A mixture of books, some CD's , two slices of vinyl and a DVD. Twenty quid in postage costs alone!

This evening watched the last part of “Symphony” on BBC 4 which looked at the first fifty years of the 20th century with music from Shostakovitch, Mahler, Sibelius, Elgar, Charles Ives and Aaron Copland.

However I was disappointed that the programme did not contain more modern symphonic pieces from composers such as John Adams, Gorecki etc.

After a slightly delayed journey caused by the 333 bus from Teynham  breaking down at the bottom of Detling Hill along  the excursion to Brighton  ended up fine and within the time I had envisioned. I did not have to wait very long to change buses at the three termini to get her and I was in the Evening Star pub just after 3.15 pm. Brilliant!

We had o transfer to another bus but the delay was less than twenty minutes.

I arrived at my second home from home and had a pint of Dark Star Six Hop Ale. Phil (not the Dover Castle one who is the landlord of that establishment ) arrived a few minutes later . I gave him one of the two books he ordered from me and he bought me a second pint of this wholesome ale.

I also met Tony and he informed me that the Apple iPhone4 run is over and done with now that the VAT people have investigated what was going on. Oh well, c’est  la vie.

I also had a chat with Rob, who follows me here occasionally. He wanted an update on my situation and it was obvious that he isn’t so avid a follower as Julian down at Fine records. However , he did ask if I had an RSS feed to my blog, and I said “well I haven’t and don’t know how to set one up”. It is something to explore though as it allows people to have instant updates.

I managed to finish the Jean-Jacques Rousseau  book “The Social Contract”  which I had to study when I did the second level OU course “The Enlightenment” some years back., many years back actually. That is the great bonus of a long bus journey.

I just went outside to have a smoke on the pipe , after talking to Rob ,and net another Dave (from Australia and from Melbourne). Ribbed him about the Ashes returning to England but we had a good convivial chat.
He says he often comes back to England after emigrating and still loves old Blighty.   Good for him. Oh and he finds the “Fawlty Towers” the best export comedy we have ever made. I cannot disagree with that!