Midweek Ramble

I have spent the day scanning local postcards and photographs into the computer, so have really been too tied up with this, to do anything else much. It’s a slow process and I now have so many Ramsgate pictures on file that I have lost track of what I have and haven’t got, this isn’t helped by loosing some during a computer accident.


I haven’t posted up any of the press releases on my press release blog as I got a threat of legal action from Thanet Earth relating one of them today and am having to review the way I post press releases.

One that gave me some pause for thought was this one from the council http://www.thanet.gov.uk/news/latest_press_releases/crematorium_award.aspx?lang=en-gb one wonders what sort of set-up local government can be, to generate this sort of thing. I mean I have been selling books for a number of years and no one ever comes along with an award. I get lots of spam emails telling me I have won this that or another thing. Council workers it appears really do live in a world where spam comes true.

One can only suppose that there are government departments somewhere that are set up to generate awards for other government departments, one wonders if it is possible for government departments not to get an award, is it prize every time?
I know Ramsgate tourist information office got one and then promptly closed, I hope this isn’t some sort of omen for the crematorium, this is not an area where a backlog is something one wants. Obviously where Ramsgate can do without tourists, the dead can’t wait, being dead they have certain rights.

I was interested to read that there are, 33 basic rights associated with funerals, as set out in the Charter. It aims to educate people about bereavement and clarify the roles and responsibilities of those involved. The Charter also sets out the standards of service that people can expect, such as the maintenance of the grounds, the choice of graves and memorials and arrangements for funerals.


Can I chose my own grave? Is the president of the USA an America?

After today’s business with the Conservative candidate, I really would like to know a bit more about the people I am supposed to be voting for on May 5th. It hadn’t occurred to me to google their names combined with Thanet and almost any derogatory word for women. However doing this would have eliminated one candidate for sure.
This does raise some issues about the local political parties selection processes, first Labour and the deselection of Mark Nottingham and now the conservatives and the selection of Payam Tamiz, could both parties be using the same agency to assess candidates? Did they get a prize? You know the sort of thing, having less than 2% failure rate. Out of 52 candidates only one outstanding error.

This raises a very important question. How are we supposed to select candidates in the forthcoming election? Should we trust the judgment of the local political associations, when their judgment appears to be clouded?

What are the local political groups looking for in a candidate?

One thing I noticed when visiting the Turner Contemporary in Margate is the Tourist Information Office is now moved into the Droit House, about a quarter space seems to be devoted to tourist information, the rest seems to be extra office space, perhaps the work has expanded to fill the space available, possibly one part issues prizes to the other. Perhaps all the staff from the closed Ramsgate and Broadstairs offices are in there somewhere.  

I may ramble on

Pondering the postcard above, these are nothing to the quandaries the local historian has to consider, it is taken facing pretty much due south, postmarked 1928, the station in the picture closed in 1926 and I am fairly certain that bathing machines weren’t used after WW1.