TTO and I walked down into the Dane John gardens, the alternative walk to the centre. It's beautiful and peaceful: the old-fashioned bandstand is so cute, and it must be lovely to have your lunchbreak there in the summer.
A view down the footpath, with one of the fountains at the end:
A quick walk later, and our lunchspot is Starbucks: thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster, we only go there occasionally! Even a skinny muffin has a rather large amount of icing on it, but I love the place.
I'm not a fan of corporate machines (don't get me started on Disney), but there are a few exceptions that I make. Starbucks is one: I like that it is Fairtrade, they seem to encourage community awareness in the branches (Canterbury staff were dressed up today, collecting for a charity donation for a local handicapped resident, I think), and the staff are so friendly. I used to support The Body Shop, for similar reasons, until the late Anita Roddick sold it to L'Oreal. That was a really sad day.
Once we're nicely refreshed, we have a wander round: the above photo which I took through Starbucks window was the closest we could get to the Cathedral without paying, which is a bit of a shame: you don't need to be religious to appreciate fine architecture. Instead, we went to an Art Exhibition at the Sidney Cooper gallery, which I will post about another day.
My must sees, though, are always the charity and secondhand shops. Canterbury, unlike a lot of other city centres, has managed to retain a degree of individuality: the chain stores are in buildings that still have their original frontage, in the main. But the stock is still the same, no matter where you are.
Not so charity and secondhand: the quality and variety of their stock is determined by whatever is donated/sourced. However, as anyone who has watched BBC2's 'Mary, Queen of Charity Shops' recently, will know, this does not necessarily mean 'the richer the area, the better the donation'. The reverse can often be the case: also, IMO, there are too many shops at the moment that think they can slap the word 'vintage' on any old trash, just because they think that will sell something that otherwise would ( and sometimes should) just rot in the corner.
Nonetheless, gems can be found: I recently bought a fantastic boho red embroidered tunic top, perfect for the summer, for £3.99, in one of the shops in Rochester. Today, my trawl was a green pvc handbac for £5, a sewing pattern for 99p, a funky multiprint M&S top for £2.99, a big rainbow scarf/shawl for £1.99, and a bridal headdress I can pull apart and repurpose, for £3.49.
The last 3 items came from a new shop in St Peters St called 'Take 2' - not the most original name, maybe, but the shop is well laidout, even though it is small, the prices are (as you can see), very reasonable, and it's well worth a look if you want a secondhand bargain. I love that the credit crunch and environmental concerns have nade people think again about secondhand: I have never known any different.
And that's a cue for another post. TTO cooked fajitas for dinner, followed by triple chocolate birthday cake:
I could not be more replete. Time to join the cats Holly and Beckett, and curl up for a snooze.
XX
1 comment:
FYI - I think the religious people have to pay too :P
Post a Comment