Hastings Pirate Weekend 2021 - Yes, really!

After missing out on Pirate Day last year because of the Covid-19 Crisis and pandemic, there truly is going to be a Hastings Pirate Weekend this year (16th-18th July 2021), starting tomorrow! See their website and facebook page for details of what will be happening. Unsurprisingly there will not be a parade, although, oddly, some people have asked if there is one or not! Where have they been for the last 16 months I wonder? But there will be music and activities for children, for example, on Hastings Pier, and no doubt very many people dressed up, and there hasn't been too much to dress up for these past 16 months, and many Hastings folk do like to dress up! 

I have used the present cover photograph of the facebook page of The Stacey Marie RX134 as my image above for this blog, regular readers will know why...

Also, please remember that rules covering the Covid-19 Crisis are still in place until Monday, then whatever deity you believe in 'help us' as it is expected that the incidence of the disease will rise. Indeed it has been rising all over the country recently, and, recent figures show that Hastings is just above the national average with 283 new cases in Hastings during the week ending 10th July, ie 305 cases per 100,000 population, whereas the national average is 287/100,000 (BBC).

So, please do enjoy yourselves, but do be very careful, there are plenty of bampots out there; I for one will be out very early and staying in for much of the day, be safe folks!

Murals along the Seafront...

It could be argued that it's very lazy journalism, but I keep finding things I want to write about when I read my old outlet, the Hastings Independent, OK, it is a wee bit lazy, but I had no idea why these murals were situated along the seafront to the east of the Goat Ledge Cafe...  until I read this article! 

Well, the 17 murals appear to be the brainchild of the owner of the cafe, St Leonards residents and a local project called Good Stuff (website), with the aim of encouraging local people to feel 'connected' to where they live, together with supporting local artists. More information supplied with thanks to the Hastings Independent, cheers!

🎵 Oh I do love to live beside the seaside...🎵 

St Leonards Gardens: Denis not sure if he's coming or going?

Denis Yeo, the gardener at St Leonards Gardens for quite a few years now, eg see my blog from a few years ago about St Leonards Gardens, appears to be on his way out from working at the Gardens, maybe... OK, that may sound a wee bit strange, but it's complicated! It appears he will be gone sometime this year, sadly, I've enjoyed chatting to the man on the odd occasion, but a hard copy of the Hastings Observer (website) was where I learnt about this, and explains what is happening much better than I could.

Whatever, best of luck to Denis, nice to know you mate!

 

Hastings Town Deal looks promising...

A week ago Hastings Borough Council's Cabinet agreed on the Town Deal regeneration programme which will use £24.3 million of COVID-19 Crisis funding from Central Government, together with another £85 million being raised from alternative sources. The Deal is projected to support projects that will create new and long-term investment, improve local skills, create new jobs, help tourism in the town by increasing visitor numbers and footfall, build new homes, make improvements to Hastings Castle, improve and create other cultural facilities, and much more. 

Go to the website for more information... this looks like very good news! 

With thanks to Simon Holland Photography for the photograph (facebook).

Parking in Hastings and a Decent Traffic Warden

Someone I know was working at someone else's home in the High Street and parked in the car park off The Bourne, the ticket machine wasn't working, so he put a notice in his car window to say suchlike and returned every hour in case the machine was working again. Found a plastic covered PCN in his windscreen wiper and threw it to one side believing he had a ticket, later finding this note instead, he was dead impressed!

Nice one, but surely car park machines should advertise that if they can't take money, you need a smart phone to download an app from RingGo, but is that fair? Not everyone has a smart phone, hmmm...