fish and chips in a number of cinque ports

hello there

just some more stuff off of my (relatively recent) visits to places in the south east, look you see. specifically, as the title suggests, a bit of a consideration of the fish and chips one may purchase at a number of the cinque ports. and, to clarify, two (2) is a number. 

whatever the actual origins of fish and chips are, as in whoever first came up with the idea to serve them as a meal, in the here and now it is a meal considered quintessentially British. it is, in the eyes of many, a seedy, heinous crime for one to visit any given coastal aspect of our land(s) and not dine on this most agreeable of meals. 

having no (immediate) wish to either burden the already presently overworked constabulary or, for that matter, experience a custodial sentence, it was so that on my south east sojourn experiences i ensured that i complied with this unwritten but upheld law. some of you for some reason may wish to have proof or evidence of this, or simply to see such for sheer curiosity. 

above, then, are the first fish and chips what i had in a cinque port, or in the area of one. for the sake of more specific provenance, this meal was thoroughly enjoyed in the southern aspects of the south east. no, for the life of me i cannot recall the (exact) name of the place, but it had some variation of sea and or sand in it, and end or similar. i think. 

for an even more specific locale, it was some sort of (and i am genuine in this) boutique bistro artisan thing, weirdly located behind a petrol station and just over the road from where some quasi cockney lads were being most vocal in their appraisal of the world as they erected some scaffolding. a chance find, and one that i was most happy to have made. 

overall, one of the finest fish and chips i have experienced, or tasted, if all of that is worded in any way that makes some form of sense. i hope it does. so good, as point of fact, i went to the very same place for a second time during my adventures. what helped considerably was that i went during those rather hedonistic (and possibly, in retrospect, hasty) "eat out to help out" discount days, so the above meal (plus a can of Coke or Dr Pepper, i forget which) cost neither north nor south of £5 on each instance. 

just some of the postcards what i picked up on my travels in the south east, presented of course in the greater glory of Commodore 64 mode. many did i get, and have already sent, with these to be sent at some stage to select addresses. if you like postcards then the south east is ace, as loads of places have them for sale. this is not so in some areas of the UK. for instance, a trip to Dudley found not one postcard for sale showcasing the place (or even Tipton). i should think this is an aspect of shame which guilt should be felt for, as even Hartlepool sell postcards of their area of the country, and believe you me, Hartlepool is no Dudley and it is certainly no Tipton. 

generally it would be fair to say that rather than lacking ambition i prefer random things to present themselves as "targets". attainable or otherwise. but, that said, i did set out with hopes of having, at some point, fish and chips within the sacred grounds of Margate. sadly, or alas, the place was just too busy, swarming as it forever seems to be with pilgrims paying homage to the place what Chas & Dave did a song about. instead, then, i settled for fish and chips in Ramsgate, which is relatively close to Margate up in the northern parts of the south east. 

to be honest i am unsure if that picture does it all justice. for a start my memories of the fish were of it being a particularly bright yellow, and the chips were of the nature what they used to be off of all chip shops in the UK in the 70s and 80s before people decided to bring in food safety and hygiene measurements and standards and other such sh!t.

i purchased the above from one of those no nonsense, no boutique or bistro nonsense solid, old school takeaway by the harbour, or port if you will. despite the meal not looking quite so elegant or as sophisticated as the south of the south east one, you have my word that this was a most tasty and thoroughly enjoyable dinner. 

some of you (for some reason) prefer images of things not in Commodore 64 mode, so there you go, them postcards from earlier. i particularly like the one of Walmer Castle. as and when they make me lord high priest of the cinque port barons (or whatever the correct title is), i believe there is an expectation for me to live there. this i suspect i shall find most agreeable. 

my abiding memory of Deal, seeing the card, involved narrow, rubbish roads, very bad displays of parking and shoddy driving by my fellow motorists. this, i note, they did not draw attention to with the images selected for the postcard. but, take my word for it, that is what you will find there. 

well, anyway, that's that for this. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!