A winter's morning and a tank from WWI Flanders Fields in Ashford, Kent -- and our recent visit to the battlefields of Belgium

Having just returned from a holiday in Brugge (see our travel photos below), Belgium, including a day tour through the battlefields and cemeteries of Flanders Field and Iepers (Ypres), this WWI tank in Ashford takes on new significance. 

We spotted the tank first, and then found, tucked behind, the "By the tank cafe." (8 New Street TN24 8UU)  Breakfast was great, and in case you're wondering, By the Tank Cafe was awarded a Fod Hygiene Rating of 5 (very Good) by the Ashford Borough Council on 24 March 2014.  But our interest quickly veered to the tank perched outside our window.

From a local website and on sign boards on the square we learned, "Ashford’s historic World War One tank, which has stood guard in the town centre for almost 100 years, is the last of its kind on outdoor display to the public.

The Kent News website reports:  "The Mark IV was presented to the town in August 1919 by Captain Ferrar of the Army Council, in recognition of the people’s generous response to the National War Savings Appeals.

"The tank, which was one of 1,220 built for combat in Belgium’s Flanders Fields, is believed to be one of eight that still exist in this condition and the only one in the UK standing visible to the public.

"Military vehicle expert Mr David Willey, curator at Bovington Tank Museum ... said: “... the tank sitting in Ashford’s town centre is special.”

"...One of the reasons Ashford’s has remained in the town is because in 1929 the back of the tank was removed, as well as all the mechanical workings inside, and an electricity sub station was installed within.

“It was gifted after the first world war to the people for helping to raise money during the war year. It is now the last one left and it probably only there because of the electricity station within it and because the council bother to come back and paint it every year and keep it in good nick.

"This particular model was considered the “female” version of the Mark IV which was armed with six Lewis machine guns where as the “male” versions were equipped with larger powder guns.

"Weighing 26 tons, the Mark IV had a max road speed of around 7mph. It also carried a crew of eight people in very cramped conditions. The model has been criticized in the past as its design meant that the 70 gallon fuel tank was placed above the crew compartment and a direct hit from an enemy shell would result in the crew being soaked in burning fuel with quick escape almost impossible.

"However, the model that stands just off New Street was also considered one of the most important tools of the war as it was able to cross trenches up to a maximum width of 10 feet.

"Around 62 of them were used on June 1, 1917, at the famous battle of Messines Ridge in Belgium which saw allied forces try to break enemy lines. This attack was a run-up to the much larger Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele.

"After major refurbishment in 2005, the Mark IV at Ashford is still looking in a good state and has been re-painted in its original colours. It was also officially registered as a war memorial in November 2006." 

Read more about the tank at the Kent News website. 

And be sure to stop by and enjoy Breakfast in Britain at the By the Tank Cafe!  

Here are some of our photos from our recent visit to Flanders Field and Iepers, Belgium.

Langemark-Peolkapelle German cemetery -- our first stop -- sobering

 Canadian Memorial

 shrapnel gathered from the open fields

Tyne Cot Cemetery

 some of the war debris gathered from the fields by walkers, farmers, children -- still more is found too frequently.

the trenches the mud the noise   the horror

The entry to the city of Iepers is through this World War One memorial gate, Menenpoort, lined with the names of the soldiers who died, from all the corners of the earth it seems.

 Iepers (Ypres or more familiarly known as "Wipers" by Allied troops) was completed flattened.  When the townspeople were given the opportunity for a new modern city to be built on the spot, they demanded that the town be built as it was, to the medieval specifications.  Today it is a beautiful city, modern yet ancient, surrounded by ramparts.

The promise of new life in the Iepers cathedral.

Fat Belly's -- Who thinks of these names?!

A sign of a genuine breakfast cafe is a closing time mid-afternoon.  At Fat Belly's it's 3:00 pm. And, lucky for us, the opening time is 6:30 am.

The sky is still dark, as we're at the end of the second longest night of the year.  We've walked the length of Downham, in southeast London on the Bromley Road, passing three breakfast cafes. At the end of the commercial stretch, we loop back, crossing at a zebra crossing.

Happy Husband catches sight of a plain sign directing us toward, 'Mini-cars & Cafe'.  So we head off the main road, slipping behind a row of shops. 

There Fat Belly's cafe with tables and chairs under an awning beckons us.  Lights are on and the tiny cafe feels full to the brim -- obviously a local favourite.  We wonder if we'll get eats.  But a table directly beneath the front counter opens up, and in we slide, side by side up against the wall. Every table taken, all men, mostly in reflector jackets or vests - a glow of neon. 

Our hosts, a British couple, welcome us, "'Mornin' luv."  Turns out he, Ben, hails from North Cyprus and the wife is London born, her parents having immigrated from North Cyprus.  They explain that theirs is a "semi-arranged marriage." They've had the cafe for 13 years, and seem happy in southeast London.

Happy Husband decides to go whole hog and orders the set breakfast-- one of everything and a pile of beans!  I order my regular 2 x 2 (eggs and toast).  Piping hot tea in mugs arrives quickly.

A Delicious Southeast London Breakfast in Britain.

Portslade Station Cafe -- near the Channel seaside at Hove

Up at 5:00 am and out the door at 5:30 heading south to the English Channel. Around the edge of London on the M25, then south toward Brighton.  We're heading to Hove, just west of Brighton where Happy Husband's favourite plastic model shop is closing down -- hoping for some sales.  We've enjoyed Linda's Cafe on the waterfront before, but today we search out a new watering hole.

We discover the Station Cafe at Portslade Station, having opened at 7:00, five minutes before our arrival.  It's light and warm inside on this brisk winter morning.  A couple pensioners are already enjoying their mugs of hot tea.  By 7:30 every table is taken. 

We split the Number 7 Full Breakfast -- two of everything and beans for Happy Husband.  The Christmas decor enhances the old photos of Portslade hanging on the wall. A classic am radio carries music from the 1980's into the dining room.  The husband and wife team have been cooking breakfasts here for 10 years.

Sated, we head out.  The Portslade Railway Station sits across the street.  As I take a photo, a work crew in a fluorescent lorry query what I could possibly find of interest to take pictures of.  So I take their photo, too.

We enjoy numerous charity shops and, naturally, the sea.  We find several re-gift items for Christmas -- treasures of Merino wool and a year's worth of Sudokus  (don't tell Happy Husband until after Christmas!)

Another wonderful Breakfast in Britain.

Breakfast in Deptford -- noted for Christopher Marlowe's demise

Our Borough of Lewisham in Southeast London has been listed recently as the "least safe" community in the United Kingdom.  Gang violence and knifings raise the figures.  There's nothing new about this reputation for Southeast London.  

We dine this morning merely a stone's throw from the pub where Christopher Marlowe met his tragic end in Deptford, Lewisham.  (Truth be told, as the leafy trees attest, I'm late in posting this visit to Deptford!)

But first let us walk along the streets of Lewisham between here and there. Past the quaint worker's homes of old and the mansions of Wickham Road, divided into flats and bedsitters for the immigrants from the West Indies a half century ago, now being scooped up by young professionals starting families, happy for the new rail lines that link Southeast London to the City with an easy commute.  

Past Friendly Gardens and the Ravensbourne River which winds its way through Lewisham to finally feed into the Thames at Deptford, 

Today, as often, Mr. Heron perches on branches overhanging the quiet stream,urban sentinel.

Lush flower boxes fill empty sills and entryways.

Garden allotments flourish under the loving hand of those who still crave fresh vegetables on their urban dinner tables.

Dickensian chimney pots scallop the skyline. One might expect a chimney sweep to pop out any moment with a bright, "Chim chim cheree." 

The "least safe" community in the United Kingdom.  Ah, how relative statistics such as these are to us who grew up with guns on the streets of Chicago and Washington D.C., and then spent years under the cloak of the violence of apartheid in South Africa, and finally fled Zimbabwe because of the government-condoned "thugs" ravaging our community in Plumtree, street by street, house by house.  "Least safe" in a land where even police officers do not carry firearms, and where we do not expect our neighbours to have a gun in the house.  Where we walk the streets at night actually expecting to arrive home without incident.

Except living in rural Mfanefile, Zululand, South Africa in the 1980's, I have never felt so safe in my home community.  We're not naive, but "least safe" in the UK means something different than "least safe" in the USA or South Africa!

We slip into Bianca Cafe on Deptford High Street, quiet now in the early morning hours.  Good hot food -- nothing like chips and beans for breakfast in Happy Husband's opinion!  I stick to my 2x2.  

Waves of customers fill the 18 seats. This place sparkles!  The premises are seriously clean -- even the seam where the tile floor meets the tiled wall! Our only complaints: Table 5 rocks, and the teabags arrive in our mugs, 

When shops open, we explore. High Street becomes an open-air market with tables laden with fish, plastic ware and fresh fruit and vegetables from foreign lands.

An unexpected treasure trove are the charity shops full of Ghanaian finery and saris.  

As we walk toward the Thames, hidden galleries and street arttreasures abound.  We'd heard that Deptford is famous for its Arts, but this is our introduction. Street art abounds -- murals, sculpture!  Quirky, moving, historic, beautiful!

Last, but not least, we "discover" the Parish Church of St Paul, hidden behind Council apartment blocks (public housing), almost upon the river bank, surrounded by a rose garden -- an oasis in the "least safe" corner of the UK.

We continue to the banks of the Thames, Greenwich to the east, Canary Wharf to the north. New expensive apartment highrises line the river.  Ah, Southeast London, rich and poor, old and new, side by side.  A great place to call home for a while.

Another delightful Breakfast in Britain!