Tuesday 21st May 2024, 11:41
I'm in Canterbury now and I already have mixed feelings about the place. I'm in an excellent independent café in a picturesque side street in the centre having a lemon meringue and one of the best mocha coffees in ages.
But getting here was irritating.. I tried to be good and use the park and ride. It would have been cheap and I wouldn't have had to drive in the town. But the entrance has been deliberately made narrow, presumably to keep out commercial vehicles. When I realized that the tyres on both sides were scrubbing on the kerb I decided that I'd rather not risk it. So I drove into the centre followed signs for a car park that turned out to be full, drove on to the next which turned out to be locked and disused, drove on a bit more and found one that wasn't open, had spaces, and with an entrance wide enough to drive through.
This car park costs almost as much per hour as the park and ride does per day.
The effect is to discriminate between rich and poor. Only those who can't afford a big car can use the park and ride, while those with plenty of money and big cars are encouraged to drive them into the narrow streets.
The other irritating thing is that the place I've booked to stay in is asking for ID. But it's a self check in place so this has to be delivered as a digital image. They asked me to send it in the Booking.com chat but I can't see how.
If I had known they insisted on this I quite likely wouldn't have booked it
