Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

Elaine organised us going to see Martha and the Vandellas at the Jazz Cafe.



But first some tapas at Jamon Jamon:



Here's what wiki says:

Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) were among the most successful groups in the Motown roster during the period 1963-1967.



In contrast to Motown girl groups such as The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas were known for a harder, R&B sound, typified in "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave," "Nowhere to Run," "Jimmy Mack" and their signature song, "Dancing in the Street."





The music is great, though I didn't know lots of the songs. Hard not to know Dancing in the Street and Nowhere to Run though! Think my favourite was Jimmy Mack.



Also not sure I've ever seen almost 70 year olds dressed up in tight lycra! They were clearly loving performing, which always makes a big difference to a live act.



Afterwards they were doing signing, so I picked up a copy of their greatest hits, dedicated to moi, woo!


CD signing


A good night!

Preston Parade and Aldborough

Whitstable
My family live in Whitstable, or more specifically Seasalter, west around the bay, about half an hour's walk along the beach. Pippi and I headed down there recently with bikes.


Preston Parade


Hedge rigs up windsurf gear

Whilst the twins went windsurfing, Pippi, Dad and I cycled to Faversham along the coast road.


Dad tries his bicycle for the first time!


Pippi and Dad


Kissing horses, awwwww


The creek


Pursued by horses


One of whom caught up with me and chomped my saddle!

Was a fun ride, although Dad managed to get two punctures, not bad after about 5 miles, given that Lewis rode 160 on the same bike without a single one!


Out near the marshes


Making hay


Barges out in the Estuary




Beach huts

And inside our "beach hut"








Trampolene out front


Pond out back


Pippi put to work


Hot tub. Beer. Happy.


Even happier!


Collecting shells

In the evening, we had a BBQ.


The Beach Hut


Preston Parade


Lewis mans the BBQ


The twins, Alex and Jonathan


Meat


You say that, but..


Sunset on Preston Parade


Felicity's cake


More, Sir?


Won't last long

Aldborough
My Grandfather Cliff lives up in Sheringham. My usual strategy for visiting involves taking the train somewhere from London, then cycling up. This time I went to King's Lynn, and surprisingly my Network Rail card gets me a discount all the way up (cf Norwich, where it costs almost twice as much for a shorter distance from London, bloody National Rail!).

Anyway, Grandpa was in relatively good form, especially after eating!





Sheringham is a traditional English sea-side holiday resort, and as such does not lack for ice-cream!


Happiness.. an ice-cream!

A Historical Year - 1978

Blondie in 1978, still going strong today!

In Brazil, Friday 13 August (agosto) is considered to be especially filled with sorrow (desgosto). This year fortunately it falls on Wednesday. Furthermore, in years past on this day…

3114 BC - The Mayan calendar started.
1415 - Hundred Years' War: Henry V of England landed at Chef-en-Caux, France with 8000 men.
1536 - Buddhist monks from Kyōto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto in the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance.
1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim - English and Austrians victorious over French and Bavarians.
1814 - The Convention of London, a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United Provinces, was signed in London.
1913 - Otto Witte, an acrobat, was crowned King of Albania.
1913 - Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley.
1918 - Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) established as a public company in Germany.
1937 - Battle of Shanghai began.
1940 - World War II: Battle of Britain begins - The Luftwaffe launched a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.
1954 - Radio Pakistan broadcasted National Anthem of Pakistan for the first time.
1960 - The Central African Republic declared independence from France.
1961 - The German Democratic Republic closed the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin, to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West.
1978 – I appeared in Canterbury Hospital care of my mother at about 7am.
1996 - Data sent back by the Galileo space probe indicates there may be water on one of Jupiter's moons.
2004 - Black Friday crackdown by NSS on a peaceful protest in the capital city of Maldives, Malé.
2004 - 156 Congolese Tutsi refugees massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi.

In celebration or commiseration of any or all of the above events (or indeed bring your own), I will be indulging a couple of beers at the Old Tea Warehouse near Aldgate from 5pm tomorrow (Wed), followed by food at Maedah Grill. All welcome.


Alex and Lewis


Pippi


Dina and Pippi


Adrian and Lewis


Pippi and Alex


Dinner

Thanks to you all... and for the wishes I received from around the world. Despite my grumpy old man nature, I am extremely grateful. See you all next year!