tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post1070023112017472489..comments2024-01-19T13:24:15.734+00:00Comments on ::Acquired Taste: Tim Strettonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-53539057366288884572008-07-01T09:12:00.000+01:002008-07-01T09:12:00.000+01:00Alis, I lived in Canterbury (well, the university ...Alis, I lived in Canterbury (well, the university halls of residence at the top of the hill) in 1986/87; and then for the two years after the Fall in the aforementioned Herne Bay.<BR/><BR/>Whitstable did nothing for me although it lacked the resolute seediness of Herne Bay. My university tutor boasted about "the lass I shagged in Tankerton" (part of Whitstable) the first time I met him, and that rather put me off the place. Unfair, really, as the liaison in question took place in 1974...Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-9683458268428932402008-06-30T17:23:00.000+01:002008-06-30T17:23:00.000+01:00Hi Tim - though Herne Bay is generally agreed to b...Hi Tim - though Herne Bay is generally agreed to be grim, it's almost a heresy around here not to like Whitstable with its cutesy little beach huts and High Street which looks like it escaped from the 1950s. Why, incidentally, is it considered good if your High Stree has no chain stores? People wax lyrical about little boutique shops but, in my experience, they are horrendously expensive and never have what you want. But I digress. I am a perpetrator of the don't like Whitstable heresy. People rave about the beach - I think any beach not deserted, rocky, sandy and possessed of crashing waves (like the ones I grew up with in W Wales) aren't really beaches at all, just places where the land happens to meet the sea. I dislike seaside towns almost on principle for this reason. So in short, despite the legions of trust-funded Londoners who have moved down to Whitstable in recent years (they're known as the DFLs, the down-from-Londoners) and who have pushed prices for titchy little terraced houses beyond even those in Canterbury (a far superior town, nay city) I say I'm with you Tim, not a fan. Though it's still better than Herne Bay.<BR/>By the way, when did you live in Canterbury?Alishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-44869841696597469592008-06-30T10:20:00.000+01:002008-06-30T10:20:00.000+01:00Hi Tim,Many thanks for the kind words about 'Sleep...Hi Tim,<BR/>Many thanks for the kind words about 'Sleepwalker's'. I'm very touched and delighted that you enjoyed it. <BR/>I do wish you the best for The Dog of the North - it's kicking off on Amazon.<BR/><BR/>SSion Scott-Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08391926148966081506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-88468863842219285022008-06-29T14:34:00.000+01:002008-06-29T14:34:00.000+01:00David, interesting question. These seaside resort...David, interesting question. These seaside resorts are part of a British tradition, and Allcombe will be familiar to all.<BR/><BR/>It's not a climate thing--I preferred (if that's the word) these towns in the winter. It's something to do with scale: in the summer is far too small for all the tourists who drop their litter and kebabs wherever they happen to be; in the winter it's like a house where all the children have left home. Add in that half the population have seasonal jobs and are unemployable for the rest of the year, and grimness is guaranteed...<BR/><BR/>Alis, what's your take on this? In Whitstable and Herne Bay you have two archetypally depressing seaside resorts - or am I missing something?Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-16224994049277842322008-06-28T19:33:00.000+01:002008-06-28T19:33:00.000+01:00So what's up with these grim or ominous seaside re...So what's up with these grim or ominous seaside resorts (like Allcombe)?<BR/><BR/>We don't seem to have those in the US. Tacky, yes, or airheaded, or kitschy or snobby. But noir-ish seaside resorts? <BR/><BR/>Is this a cultural thing, or a climate thing?David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-68078139526005551762008-06-26T20:42:00.000+01:002008-06-26T20:42:00.000+01:00I've just finished reading Cop-Hater! Didn't do a ...I've just finished reading Cop-Hater! Didn't do a lot for me, either.nohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00398443646324855212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-72764995504639282962008-06-26T18:31:00.000+01:002008-06-26T18:31:00.000+01:00Nice one, Tim. I know it's nosey of me but I'm alw...Nice one, Tim. I know it's nosey of me but I'm always fascinated by these little slices of other writers' lives!Alishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.com