Tag: canterbury

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Cobbles, Company, and Cocktails

I recently had a lovely weekend with friends of over thirty years in the Belgium city of Leuven. It was a celebration of getting old for one of us and we got together for probably the first time in twelve years. We live in different ends of the country and in different countries now so getting together is just a little bit harder than meeting up at the Star Of India or King Willy IV. It’s odd but when comparing technology from now to then and the ease of keeping in touch I feel it’s amazing we ever did anything. Imagine having to phone call people and organise things “live”.

So, trains, cars and cars on trains meant that we had a weekend in Leuven. It’s a very pretty town and had a lovely atmosphere, probably aided by the fact it’s a university town. On the Saturday we just met up, found our lodgings and drank and ate. On the Sunday we ate, drank, ate and drank and somewhere in the middle of that there was a visit to a little brewery on the edge of town. It definitely was not Stella Artois which has it’s home at Leuven.

Leuven Town Hall
Leuven Town Hall

Leuven has a large pedestrian area, although there were many bicycles on the loose! The roads were nicely wide and there were statues here and there. Effectively within the main ring-road the place is safe, quiet and impressive.

A Leuven Street
A Leuven Street

At night the town is gorgeous. It’s well lit and oozes sophistication – apart from that one little street which has a McDonalds – the rest of it is lovely.

Leuven Cocktails
Leuven Cocktails

This past week I also spend some time in the UK equivalent town of history and cobbles. I went to Canterbury. The streets are thinner but just as full of tourists as Leuven. There were many eateries but not so many bars which is a shame I guess. Canterbury is a university town and also the home of christianity in the UK – not that that fact is a draw on me going there. I’ve been in the cathedral and so am not that fussed about getting inside there again.

Canterbury Streets
Canterbury Streets

You can see from the picture above that Canterbury does pretty well in the “cobbled streets and old buildings look” category. Maybe Leuven is a bit better as they rebuilt the whole town after the first world war and made it look like it did before!

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One More Time With Feeling

Last night I went to Canterbury to the Curzon independent cinema there. I find Canterbury an odd place. The centre, where the shops are, is cut off by a Roman wall and a ring road from the reality of the rest of the town.

I’d not been to the Curzon cinema there before although I probably have been to those cinemas but too long ago to remember or be specific. The cinema was off a back street near the Marlowe Theatre. Inside it was quirky with an old fashioned book shop feel to it. People were drinking coffee and playing scrabble in the foyer area. The screen room itself was wide but not deep and the seats were quite comfortable with some being sofa style!

I went to see One More Time With Feeling. A documentary film about Nick Cave creating and recording music since the death of his son.

It was mostly shot in black and white and it was a very touching movie. I know nothing about Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and I’m not sure I know much now. The interviews were interesting and partly an insight into the music making process but on reflection I’m not convinced they were very revealing. The film seemed to contain about 6 or 7 music videos. I’m not sure if the band were actually recording while they played in these scenes, I would like to think so but it looked a little too staged. The scenes and interviews in between the set-piece song videos were dark, amusing and pretty much what you would expect.

I was utterly compelled for most of the film. As a terrible song writer and someone who probably should spend more time using his creative side it was interesting to hear a musician talk about the process, but I’m not at all sure it was a major revelation.

To hear someone talk about the death of a child is horrible.

Anyway, this is worth a watch. It’s musically interesting and lyrically haunting. It’s a good film.

Judge for yourself:

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