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Canterbury


yen_powell

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Just sent this:-

To The Archbishop of Canterbury, senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England. 

 

Dear Justin,

 

On Sunday I finally visited Canterbury, a place I have been meaning to check out for many years. I have to say I was not disappointed, the vast range of architectural styles, the buzzing street life, the gorgeous looking riverscapes and the well preserved medieval city walls all lived up to my expectations and more.

 

I'm a life long motorcyclist. I think I have stuck with it for over 35 years despite our great nation's abysmal weather because I like the independence I achieve from it. I can plan exactly when I will arrive somewhere, however bad the traffic situation. I can always find a place to park, I rarely queue. In fact not queuing is probably my biggest plus, I dislike it intensely. As a result when I visit a new place, I take my own food and drink, that way if the place is rammed I can ignore the queueing rabble and find a nice quiet spot and feed myself with no drama.

 

Upon arriving in Canterbury I pulled into a nice empty (and free) motorcycle parking place alongside the wall around the cathedral precincts. As I had just ridden down the centre of around 10 miles of queuing holiday traffic on the M2 I was hot, hungry and thirsty. It was the hottest day of the year I believe. I grabbed my flask and sandwiches and walked excitedly around the corner into Burgate looking for the first side turning into the Cathedral grounds.

 

Imagine my surprise when I was stopped at a vehicle checkpoint and told that to gain access to the grounds I had to buy a £14 ticket to the Cathedral itself. After expressing disbelief to the very polite lady manning the checkpoint, I walked further up Burgate and took my business and sandwiches to the Catholics at St Thomas of Canterbury. The same Catholics who, incidentally, owned Canterbury Cathedral until the 1500s when the county had a bit of a reformational shake up.

 

I know this is a long rambling message, but I guess what I am really trying to say is, don't be knocking on my door asking for jumble for the Bring and Buy when your church roof is a bit threadbare mate!!

 

Kind Regards

 

Ian Powell (Christened, C of E, Laarbruch RAF chapel, Germany March 1966)

 

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Lovely place Canterbury i haven't been there to look around for about 30 years it's one of the places i used to visit when attending the Kent custom show back in the late 80's. I did have a flying visit in 2010 when i bought my CB1000

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46 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Brilliant Yen!

And what's the best time to visit this place?

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Yes, I thought of you when I took that.

The best time to visit is not when the M25 is shut, knocking Dartford Tunnel out of operation, especially when you have wide panniers fitted. I had to go all the way into east London on the A2 which was rammed with no proper filtering room (although I managed to get through by pure force of personality) and then go through Blackwall Tunnel at walking pace. I have never seen my new bike run so hot, usually 105 degrees C and the fan brings it down. With the fan running full time in the tunnel it reached 112 degrees and I was all set to pull over and let it cool when I hit the fresh outside air and the gauge started dropping like usual. The bike outside temp gauge was showing 41 degrees in the tunnel, back to 35 outside. I drank about 8 mugs of water when I got in and still didn't need the toilet for ages.

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21 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

Yes, I thought of you when I took that.

The best time to visit is not when the M25 is shut, knocking Dartford Tunnel out of operation, especially when you have wide panniers fitted. I had to go all the way into east London on the A2 which was rammed with no proper filtering room (although I managed to get through by pure force of personality) and then go through Blackwall Tunnel at walking pace. I have never seen my new bike run so hot, usually 105 degrees C and the fan brings it down. With the fan running full time in the tunnel it reached 112 degrees and I was all set to pull over and let it cool when I hit the fresh outside air and the gauge started dropping like usual. The bike outside temp gauge was showing 41 degrees in the tunnel, back to 35 outside. I drank about 8 mugs of water when I got in and still didn't need the toilet for ages.

Nice pleasant ride then?

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You can be guaranteed that even the most desperate Catholic priest would avoid your rancid underkaks. It’s a pity Six did not have that knowledge available to him when Father Patrick was helping him reach those high notes in the choir.

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Dear Mr Powell,

 

Thank you for your recent email. Much as he would like to, the Archbishop is unable to respond personally and in detail to all the hundreds of emails and letters that he receives, and so I have been asked to reply to you on his behalf.

 

I was very sorry to read of your concerns in this matter and I appreciate the sentiments which prompted you to write. Whilst it is of course understandable you would want to write to the Archbishop on this matter, the day-to-day running of the Cathedral is solely the responsibility of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, and the Archbishop cannot and does not have the ability to intervene in the running of the Cathedral and its visitor charges. Therefore, I would advise you to raise you concerns directly with the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral.

 

This email is not intended to indicate any lack of concern, only to point out those more able to assist you and provide a suitable response. Thank you again for taking the time to write to the Archbishop on this matter and please be assured of our prayers and good wishes.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Dominic Goodall

 

Dominic Goodall | Correspondence Manager to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Lambeth Palace, London SE1 7JU |

| www.archbishopofcanterbury.org Switchboard: 020 7898 1200 |

 

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