On a Serious Note... Manston Night Flights

Any suggestion of Manston Night Flights remind me of an old horror flick; it gives me a shiver down the spine and makes me want to run and hide under my duvet till it's all over. ----------->


It's the question I always dread being asked. I'm very sure of my answer; it's just not always what people want to hear. 

Every so often I get attacked with this; normally when completely off my guard, casually chatting away and it gets snuck in...... "What are your thoughts on Manston expanding, what are your views on night flights Jen??" BOOM.. straight into Politico mode. (Which to the apathetic; is NOT "lying through my back teeth" but genuine want to answer mode). To me these are two completely different questions, to which I answer seperately:


1. Manston Expanding = Wonderful! If it ever does happen, I will be fully behind it. I've lived next to the airport my whole life and never once have been bothered at the thought of it becoming a fully operational passenger affair. I welcome the day when a decent company would like to come in and spread a little economical magic in Thanet, What with the Gateway, fast train services, hotels and now the lovely bypass this is long overdue.


On a different note, I was lucky to visit the opening of the Equine Transport Facility last week with Lady Gale (name drop!!)  and was bowled over at just how above and beyond fantastic the facility is. Polo and Eventing horses from around the world will now be ferried in through a very top class base. The stables are high quality and no doubt they will see a lot of business throughout the Olympic year.  My love of all things horsey got me quite excited, especially when they used two local carriage horses at the official opening. Jen in horsey heaven. Anyway.. I digress, back to the important stuffs...


2. Manston Night Flights: No.. no.. No.. and NO! I am completely against this.


On a personal level, being woken up at 1am with a low flying blunderbuss shaking everything my apartment does not appeal. I have had the pleasure of this experience a few times with "emergency" landings. No sleep and lots of noise make a very grumpy Jen. 


Night flights are not wanted or needed, I find it very hard to believe that the few cargo flights a night being suggested could have such a positive effect on the local economy. Not that Manston is in any way comparable to the "big 4" but, none of the larger airports of the South have night flights, so why should we?? Everyone else managed to schedule their flights in the daytime.. Why is Manston different? If there was solid evidence that this proposal would really benefit us locally, then perhaps I would take a different view but until then my mind is set.


From what I can gather, the general consensus amongst the Canterbury City Councillors is about the same level as my own pondering. I would not like to speak for all, but certainly this is the vibe I receive back from most. I think I might well just direct people to this blog post in future.. would save time but I guess would take out the fun part of getting people's feedback...!

Not so Hernia Bay?

Kudos to Mr Gerald McCarthy of Herne Bay..


He's been a very busy boy. After all ready successfully pulling off the First Official Herne Bay Zombie Crawl of 2011, he's all ready planning the 2012 route and has some even bigger and wilder plans! (I will obviously blog on this subject at a later date..  but very excited to be involved!)

In his spare time he's created this wonderful promo video for the town..It's been such a hit I've heard that the Council all ready want to use it in official promotion for the Summer. I love it; it just shows how perception can change with the right attitude.









It's wonderful to see that there are Bay residents who are so passionate about the town that they want to get involved. It's the positive things that got me involved with the town in the first place. I've always taken the attitude: if you can get involved locally and actually make a difference.. it makes every bit of effort worth it.


I always find it amazing that so many are so happy to snipe and moan when the town doesn't get enough positive coverage. The amount of names I've heard the Bay called over the years still astounds me, especially as I absolutely love living here. The sea, the fresh air, local business... What more could one want? I did the London life and I still ended up back at my favourite seaside residence.


It also astounds me furthermore that the people who are behind the negative comments never seem to want to get positively involved in perhaps changing the perception.


Well done Gerry, hopefully this will conjure more positive thinking and I look forward to working with you in the future!




NB: You can follow the progress of the 2012 Zombie Crawl on twitter: @hbzombiecrawl or look it up on Facebook!

Valentines - Bah Humbug?

Yippee... Valentines tomorrow! 


I write this with the sincerity of  a Suarez handshake.. (boom!). Waste of time, Waste of money. Do I compare myself to Ebenezer Scrooge and his Christmas Carol? Why yes, yes I do.


Valentines was originally all about sending a card to your secret crush, maybe a rose or chocolates to go with it. The thrill was all about turning up at school, or at work, or even a surprise in the post; a card with your name on it....  


.....Either that, or perhaps a chill down your spine when realising you have a stalker to deal with. This happened to me a few years back and a) I still don't know who it was, and, furthermore b) When it's a valentine's card stating that "I noticed you, did you notice me?" It kind of freaked me out a little! Valentines is a time for the nut jobs to come out of hiding and put it down on paper; rather than sitting on Facebook and going through every photo you've posted since day dot. 


What prompted me to write this post was more a fact of what I saw this morning. I popped to the local post office to buy some stamps and I was bombarded by stands with rows of Valentines cards and presents from anyone and everything. Seems now you can receive a card declaring eternal love from the neighbour's budgie! In all seriousness, I found a card saying "With love from your Budgie". Not to mention the endless trinkets of tat to surprise the loved one as proof of your affection. Because nothing says I love you like a book of Massage vouchers and a stuffed toy rose!  I think the rubbish collectors may be quite busy next collection.


Do people really buy this junk? Seriously worrying if so.. Or maybe I am just a little bit cynical. 


NB: Not that I expect any, but to anyone who is thinking of send me a Valentine ("Bah- Humbug!"); Please do me a favour and just buy me a bar of dairy milk instead, the sentiment is far more personal, and the reception far more grateful!